LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Abilene Christian volleyball fought its way back from a two games to one deficit and out of a 5-1 hole early in game five to defeat Samford, 3-2, Saturday afternoon at New Mexico State. The Wildcats won by scores of 25-12, 26-28, 22-25, 25-17, 15-9 in their first five-setter of the season to improve to 2-7, while the Bulldogs of the Southern Conference fell to 3-6.
Senior Corrine Grandcolas was key to the victory as scored a career high 19 points on 15 kills (.520 on 25 attempts) and seven blocks. She was part of back-to-back blocks to put ACU ahead 7-5 in the final set and then pushed the Wildcats lead to 10-5 following consecutive kills. Grandcolas then subbed back in with her team at match point and delivered the game-winning kills off an assist from junior setter
Kendall Bosse.
"Corrine really had a great day for us," said head coach
Angela Mooney. "She attacked for a really high percentage, slowed balls down at the net with her block and just played with the maturity we have been hoping to see from her. The setters also both did an excellent job of equally distributing the ball to all our hitters."
Bosse registered 32 assists for the Wildcats, while her co-setter – sophomore
Makenzie Kesler – was credited with 23. Each ACU setter played in all five sets as the team collectively hit .255, including .276 in game one and .375 in game five.
Grandcolas was one of five Wildcats to reach double figures in scoring. Freshman
Lorin McNeil collected 16.0 points on 12 kills (.500 on 18 attempts) and eight blocks. Junior outside hitter
Jacey Smith had 11 kills in addition to one of the team's seven service aces, while freshman
Katelyn Mueller scored 12 on nine kills and junior middle blocker
Lauren Walker posted a 14.0-point effort (10K, 6 blocks).
Defensively, ACU limited Samford to a .116 hitting percentage with sophomore libero
Amanda Chapa digging out 20 attacks and Mueller responsible for 11.
The Wildcats ran away from Samford in game one after starting the match down 0-3, but soon corrected their collective performances with a 17-3 run and cruised from there.
The Bulldogs, however, would not be dissuaded and stormed back to win game two after staring at a 24-21 disadvantage. They scored three consecutive points to tie the score at 24-24, and did so again after going down 26-25, receiving a kill, ace and block in succession to knot the game score at 1-1. Samford then led game three wire-to-wire to grab a 2-1 lead.
Game four began as a tug-of-war until the Wildcats finally were able to pull away thanks to a game-changing 11-3 run that turned a 9-9 contest into a convincing 20-12 lead for ACU. That boost helped the Wildcats send the match to a decisive fifth game, in which ACU started slowly and forced head coach
Angela Mooney to burn a timeout with her team trailing 4-1.
Samford scored another point coming out of the stoppage on a Wildcat attack error, but right afterward ACU scored the next nine points and never looked back. Grandcolas scored four of her 19 points during this run on two kills and two blocks with McNeil. ACU also received a kill from Walker and benefitted from six Bulldog errors.
"We really executed in set one," said Mooney. "We served and passed at a high level against a team who we knew had the ability to control that part of the game well.
In set two, we had a hard time staying in system and being organized ... made too many unforced errors ... so we made a few switches to the line up and the players did a great job of refocusing, reorganizing and getting back to the type of play we ultimately want for our team. The numbers the team produced in multiple categories were exactly what we need to be successful moving forward.
"Samford was a good team. The team was resilient in sets four and five to dominate the rest of the match."
ACU 3, Delaware State 0
The Wildcats registered a much-needed sweep in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader, beating Delaware State of the MEAC, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 to improve to 3-7.
ACU again was solid on offense, hitting .292 with senior
Corinne Grandcolas (9K, .412) and freshman
Katelyn Mueller (10K, .368) leading the Wildcats within the scoring column. Mueller led all Wildcats with 11.5 points, adding an ace and block assist, while juniors
Jacey Smith (8K, two aces) and
Lauren Walker (7K, eight block assists) each finished with 11.0 points.
Grandcolas totaled 10.0 points and completed the Saturday doubleheader sweep with 29.
The Wildcats dominated all the statistical categories vs. the Hornets complete with 11 blocks, 52 digs and six service aces, and at no point did they trail by more than two points. ACU last trailed 13-12 midway through the second set before going on a 13-5 run to complete the game, and going up 2-0 for the match. The Wildcats scored the last four points of that set and received kills along the way from Walker, Grandcolas and Mueller.
A pair of blocks got the Wildcats rolling at the start of game three in which they jumped out to a 5-0 lead. The Hornets, however, would make one final charge to cut their deficit to one point at 15-14, but right afterward ACU would score four consecutive points on three kills an a DSU attack error to get its five-point cushion back.
A block from Walker and sophomore setter Mackenzie Kesler brought the Wildcats to match point, and sophomore
Marybeth Sandercox ended matters with her sixth kill of the match. Sandercox hit .429 on 14 attempts.
"We were really efficient with our pin attackers," said Mooney. "The match was a grind but we are happy to have earned the sweep. It was a great learning experience for our team and we will be better in the future because of this afternoon's match."
Kesler assisted on 18 of the Wildcats' 44 kills, while junior setter
Kendall Bosse had 21. Sophomore libero dug out 20 attacks and helped limit the Hornets to a .133 hitting percentage.
The Wildcats conclude their stay at the Borderland Invitational Sunday at UTEP. Game one is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. CT.
