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ABILENE – The time for Abilene Christian to begin a new winning streak on its home court arrives as early as Tuesday when the Wildcats play host to McNeese at 6 p.m.
ACU saw its nine-match win streak at Moody Coliseum end Saturday to Sam Houston State (3-1), and even though the Bearkats posted some lopsided scores (18-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-18), ACU head coach
Angela Mooney didn't think there was much difference between her side and the opposition.
The total number of assists, digs, aces and attack attempts were fairly similar, and the Wildcats out-blocked the opposition once again, 12-9. But where the Bearkats succeeded most was in the intangibles – the stats measured outside the box score.
"It's an area where we have to get better," said Mooney. "In the first set we scored with our serve, and that allowed us to play in a comfortable rhythm and control the set. Afterward, we weren't converting those same serves into points. We have to stay under control in those sustained rallies and have a sense of urgency from the first point forward. We can't wait until we're down five points. We have do the little things better, obviously, because the offensive execution after the first set was not at all where we wanted it to be."
Four Wildcats all reached double figures in scoring vs. Sam Houston led by senior
Corinne Grandcolas' 13.5 points on 11 kills and three blocks. Junior
Jacey Smith also was part of three rejections and had two service aces to finish with 11.5 points, while right behind her were freshman
Katelyn Mueller (11 pts.) and junior
Lauren Walker (10.5 pts.).
With seven block assists Saturday, Walker moved into fourth place among all Southland Conference players with 1.11 blocks per set, and the team as a whole ranks second (61st nationally) with 2.41 rejections per set.
The Bearkats, meanwhile, countered with a 20-point performance from middle blocker Taylor Cunningham (17 K, .467), a combined 29 kills from outsides Jordyn Vaughn (14K) and Brooke White (15K), and a defense that dug out 66 ACU attacks.
Now the Wildcats have their sights set on a McNeese team that counts victories over Houston and Mississippi State among its nine wins. The Cowgirls are 9-7 overall and have begun conference play with a 3-0 win over Nicholls followed by a 3-0 loss to Houston Baptist.
McNeese is one of the best defensive teams in the Southland with 17.15 digs per set that ranks first in the league and 27th nationally. They also are No. 2 in team kills (731), total attacks (2,169) and assists (686).
The Cowgirls' libero Angela McGownd is projected to have an all-conference season with 5.52 digs per set, while offensively, Shanna Spree is tops in the league with 22 service aces.
ACU is 3-2 all-time vs. McNeese after splitting last season's home-and home series. The Wildcats won the most recent meeting at Moody Coliseum held last November, 3-0.
