LARAMIE, Wyo. – ACU's 2017 season debut Friday at Wyoming's
Rumble in the Rockies was a bit rough and tumble at times as the Wildcats were outlasted by Portland in three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-18 and 25-15.
The Wildcats' best game was their first. They jumped out to a 12-8 lead, collecting three blocks and hitting .273 with 11 kills led by the likes of freshman
Katelyn Mueller (4-for-7) and junior
Lauren Walker (3-for-5). But after tying the set a seventh and final time at 16-all, the Pilots took off on a game-ending 9-5 run that featured three kills from today's leading scorer Reghan Pukis (16 points).
ACU called timeout after Pukis delivered consecutive kills that pushed the Pilots' lead to 19-16, but from there the Wildcats wouldn't get any closer than two points. Katie Barker brought her team to set point at 24-20 thanks to a kill and service ace, and then Liz Reich won the game with one of her eight kills.
Reich hit a team-best .429 for a program that hit .307 overall and continually improved offensively from set-to-set. The Pilots overcame a slow start in game one to finish with a .250 hitting percentage, and lifted that number to .294 in game two, and .387 in game three – recording 15 kills on 31 attempts with three errors.
Portland again pulled away late in game two with setter Cali Thompson (37 assists) assisting on 16 kills from five different players, including Pukis, who delivered two kills during a game-clinching 7-3 run. The Pilots continued to roll in game three as a 4-0 start was enough to ensure they'd lead from wire-to-wire.
Pukis racked up another five kills (on 10 attempts) in game three and hit .323 for the match.
The only area in which the Wildcats outperformed the Pilots was on the block as ACU recorded 5.0 rejections to 4.0 for Portland. Freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil had a hand in four blocks in finishing with five points, while Walker led all Wildcats with 7.5 points, totaling a team-high seven kills and a block assist.
Junior
Jacey Smith finished right behind Walker with seven points and seven digs. Mueller and sophomore
Marybeth Sandercox each had four kills, and
Kendall Bosse was credited with 22 assists.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday with a 1 p.m. / 6 p.m. CT doubleheader vs. Wyoming and South Dakota. ACU's match with the Cowgirls will include a
video stream in addition to
live stats.
