NEW ORLEANS – Abilene Christian volleyball overcame a six-point, fourth-set deficit with a match ending 14-6 run to defeat New Orleans, 3-1, Thursday night at the Human Performance Center. The Wildcats (8-10), who won by scores of 27-25, 21-25, 25-12 and 26-24, are off to their best start in Southland Conference play at 5-1.
The Wildcats called time while trailing the Privateers (10-13, 4-4 Southland) 18-12 in the fourth set but came out of the stoppage on a 4-0 run. They first were helped by a UNO service error and then received a combination of points from senior
Lauren Walker (14K, .440) and sophomore
Katelyn Mueller (18K, .238). This duo blocked a Brianna Vega (9K, 21 digs) shot and then registered their own kills off assists from senior setter
Kendall Bosse (50 assists, 13 digs), who has 50 or more assists in three of her last four matches.
Mueller's fifth kill of the set and 18th of the match got the Wildcats to within a point at 20-19 and then her service ace several plays later put them ahead at 23-21.
Incredibly, the Privateers roared back into the lead once last time at 24-23 thanks to a pair of kills from Ehize Omoghibo (11K, .333) but the Wildcats countered with the final three points on kills from middle blockers Walker and
Kennedy Shelstead (10K, .421) sandwiched around UNO's eighth attack error of the set. The Privateers were hitting .393 in the fourth set after going up 15-12 on a kill by Rhyan Rand, but finished at a .167 clip for the set and .188 for the match.
Senior libero
Lillian Drever led all Wildcats with 24 digs followed by Bosse, whose 13 digs give her five double-doubles on the season.
ACU hit .243 by comparison, which was its fourth-highest percentage of the season behind Georgetown (.290), Lamar (.283) and Incarnate Word (.259).
The Wildcats were at their best offensively in the third set, hitting .400 with 16 kills on 30 attempts. Walker recorded five kills followed by Mueller with four while Shelstead and
Jacey Smith (8K, 12 digs) tied with three as the UNO defense only dug out five attacks.
In what was a forceful response after UNO knotted the match at a set apiece, ACU used an early 7-0 run to take an 8-2 lead and jumped out to a 10-point advantage at 17-7 following an attack error by Blessing Dunn. The Wildcats finished the set on an 8-5 run to win by 13 points.
The Wildcats earlier fell into a four-point hole (8-4) to begin the second set and spent the remainder of it trying to play catchup. The first time ACU made it a one-point contest, the Privateers responded with a 10-4 outburst that pushed their lead out to 19-12. The Wildcats then responded with an 8-2 run led by Walker, Shelstead, Mueller and Bosse, whose sole service ace made it a 21-19 contest and tied
Madelyn Robinette's D1-era program record of 86.
Smith dealt two aces this evening and sits one behind the co-leaders with 85.
After a
Marybeth Sandercox kill (7K) cut New Orleans' lead to 21-20, the Privateers finished on a 4-1 run with the set point tallied by Kaitlyn Grice (14K, .323).
UNO also started fast in the first set, jumping out to a 10-6 lead, but couldn't put any additional distance between itself and ACU after the Wildcats tied the score at 11-11 on a kill from Smith. The Privateers regained the lead once more on the next play before the set turned into a veritable tug-of-war as the two sides battled through 10 ties.
Kyra Hunter tied the score a 13th and final time at 25-25 with one of her seven kills, but the Wildcats' immediately struck back with a Mueller kill and block from Sandercox and Shelstead. ACU blocked 6.5 shots with Shelstead having a hand in four rejections, including one solo effort.
Through 41 sets this season Shelstead is averaging 1.07 blocks per set overall and 1.04 in conference action.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday at noon vs. the Nicholls Colonels, against whom they are 4-4 against since entering the Southland Conference in 2013. The two teams split last year's season series.
