ABILENE – ACU outside hitter
Jacey Smith hit .267 and collected 19 kills, but the McNeese defense – rated as one of the best in the Southland Conference – held steady with 71 digs and eight blocks in sending the Wildcats to a 3-1 defeat Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum.
The Cowgirls won by scores of 25-19, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-17 in improving to 10-7 overall and 2-1 vs. the league, while ACU slipped to 4-10 and 0-2.
Smith's 19 kills were the most by a Wildcat in a four-set match since
Dorothy Swanson registered the same total late last season vs. Houston Baptist, but the junior simply didn't get enough help offensively as the Cowgirls limited ACU to a .187 hitting percentage. The Wildcats also hurt themselves with 11 service and 10 blocking errors that neutralized their 13.0 total team blocks.
Freshman
Katelyn Mueller was the only other Wildcat to reach double-digits in scoring with 13.0 point as she delivered 10 kills (.229) with an ace, 11 digs and three blocks. Meanwhile, the third-highest total belonged to freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil with 8.5 points (6K, 5BA).
By comparison, McNeese hit a solid .286 and had three players with 10 or more kills: Keegan Nelms (15), Jenny D'Alessandro (10) and Katelyn Elliott (10). The Cowgirls also left the court with zero blocking errors and used a tough serve to drop in five aces.
McNeese never trailed in games one and two, jumping out to respective leads of 3-0 and 6-0, and in game four, they never looked back after taking off on a early 4-1 run. In game three, however, the Wildcats came out with a different mindset and finished with 14 kills (.225), 11 digs and seven blocks.
"We served aggressive and controlled the serve and pass," said head coach
Angela Mooney. "There were low passing numbers in games one and two, and then we were able to pass well above our goal. As a result, our hitting percentage went up, we racked up blocks and stayed out the net. Unfortunately we couldn't sustain that going into game four."
"Our sense of urgency has to get better," she added. "There were a a ton of unforced errors – blocking, serving, and hitting – it was really inconsistent. We have to find a way to get our hitters going, because it's hard to get momentum and win sets if we don't."
Kendall Bosse recorded ACU's most assists tonight with 23 followed by
Makenzie Kesler with nine and libero
Lillian Drever with six. Drever also led the Wildcats with 12 digs followed by Mueller with 11.
The Wildcats continue their four-match homestand Thursday at 6 p.m. vs. Southeastern Louisiana.
