LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Abilene Christian volleyball lost a 3-0 decision at New Mexico State to begin its four-match run at the Borderland Invitational. The host Aggies won by scores of 25-17, 25-17, 25-22, in improving to 4-3 on the season, while the Wildcats fell to 1-7.
ACU's offense hit .150 and was led in the point column by sophomore outside hitter
Marybeth Sandercox, who totaled 8.5 points on eight kills and a block assist. The Wildcats tied the Aggies with seven blocks with freshman middle blocker
Lorin McNeil getting a hand in five rejections. Junior
Lauren Walker and senior
Corinne Grandcolas each had two blocks.
Junior setter
Kendall Bosse paced the attack with 24 assists to go along with 10 digs, tying her for the team lead with junior outside hitter
Jacey Smith.
The Aggies countered the Wildcats' efforts with a .270 hitting percentage and 49 digs. Tatyana Battle was one of two Aggies to reach double figures as she hit .457 with 17 kills, while Kassandra Tohm knocked down 10 kills.
New Mexico State jumped out to early leads in games one and two thanks to several significant scoring runs. The Aggies led by as many as nine points in game two and closed the first set on a 11-4 run after the Wildcats closed the gap to 14-13 on four consecutive kills from Smith (x2), McNeil and Sandercox.
There were four lead changes and 14 ties in game three, the last of which was at 21-21 after Sandercox registered her final kill. From there the Aggies took off on one final 4-1 run with the final point coming off an ACU attack error.
The Wildcats look to rebound Saturday with matches against Samford and Delaware State scheduled for 12 and 6 p.m. CT.
