BOULDER, Colo. – If there's an emotion situated between heartache and hopefulness, the Abilene Christian volleyball team surely must be experiencing it Friday night following a competitive 3-1 loss to Wake Forest at the Coors Event Center.
What's leaving the team feeling hopeful? A strong passing and service game in the first set, which carried the Wildcats to a 25-21 win. ACU (1-3) converted 28.6 percent of its attacks, getting four kills apiece from junior outside hitter
Jacey Smith and freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil. Sophomore
Amanda Chapa also recorded nine of her career high 28 digs in game one, and after the Demon Deacons tied the score a seventh time at 20-20 the Wildcats finished on a 5-1 run.
Junior middle blocker
Lauren Walker ignited the rally with a solo block on Caitlyn Della and ACU was further assisted by a bad set that preceded kills from Smith (17K) and junior
Kendall Bosse (4K, 45 assists). The Wildcats ultimately won the game on an attack error by Kylie Long, who was the Demon Deacons leading scorer tonight with 13.5 points.
Wake (4-1) prevailed somewhat comfortably in the second set, 25-16, behind a game-ending 10-5 run bolstered by a .333 attack percentage. And in sets three and four they administered some serious heartache.
Game three ended on a 5-0 Wake run soon after the Wildcats pulled even an 11th time at 20-20 thanks to three consecutive kills from sophomore
Marybeth Sandercox (12K), Walker (8K, 4 blocks), and Smith. The Demon Deacons would then hop right back into the lead, spurred on by back-to-back strikes from Caroline Rassenfross and Caroline Kuhn.
Game four concluded with another gut punch. The Wildcats and Demon Deacons were never separated by more than two points in the final set, and not long after ACU tied the score an eighth time at 23-23 on a kill from
Katelyn Mueller and block (Bosse and McNeil), Wake received the go-ahead and game-winning kills from Long and Madeline Holt.
"We couldn't get into the rhythm we wanted in sets two and three," said head coach
Angela Mooney. "Rarely were we able to score with our serve and so we were caught playing a side-out game. We got in a better flow in set four, but were unable to finish."
"However, we also saw some really great things," she added. "We out dug them (67-54) and had some players finish with some great numbers. Amanda played great defense. Lorin killed the ball at very high level (9-15, .600), so there were some small glimpses of greatness that make us even more hungry for the next opportunity to improve and ultimately end with the results we want."
The Wildcats will get their next chance as early as tomorrow at 11 a.m. (CT) when they take on Rice, which improved to 3-2 on the year after sweeping Wake Forest earlier today by scores of 25-19, 25-15, 25-23.
