ABILENE – Sophomore outside hitter
Katelyn Mueller hit a career best .522 behind a 13 kill / 18 dig double-double and junior right side
Marybeth Sandercox hit .611 with 11 kills and seven blocks in leading Abilene Christian volleyball to a 3-1 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum.
The victory lifted the Wildcats' season and Southland Conference records to 10-10 and 7-1, while the Islanders, who've lost their last two matches at ACU, fell to 4-17 and 3-5.
Head coach Angela Mooney's postmatch comments
Winners of four straight, the Wildcats remain tied for second place in the league with Sam Houston State after winning tonight's match by scores of 18-25, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-19. Stephen F. Austin, meanwhile, extended its conference winning streak to eight matches with a 3-1 win vs. Central Arkansas.
Although never leading in the first set, ACU's offense developed a greater consistency throughout sets two and three in helping them take a 2-1 lead.
The Wildcats finished on a 7-2 run in set two after falling behind 21-18 thanks to five kills, a block and a set-winning ace by senior libero Lillian Drever (10 digs). Mueller produced two kills during this rally, which narrowed the Islander's lead to 22-21, and then after the visitors went ahead by two points at 23-21, the Wildcats received three consecutive kills from Sandercox and reigning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week Lauren Walker (8K, 8 blocks).
ACU hit .378 in the second set with only two attack errors after hitting .103 in the first set (10 errors).
The Wildcats' defense again stepped up some in the third, digging out 18 of 45 Islander attacks and blocking five shots, while the offense only made one attack error down the stretch in hitting .294 for the set.
ACU's fortunes began to shift that set when a Corpus Christi service error gave way to back-to-back kills from Mueller that forced the Islanders into a timeout, trailing 18-17. The Wildcats went on to grab several two-point leads, but after a Jacey Smith (14K) kill gave her side a 23-21 advantage Corpus bounced back with a Sam Dumity kill (9K) and block from Dumity and Chloe Simon (13K, 12 dig).
After a Wildcats' timeout with the score locked at 23-23, Walker put her side up for good with her sixth kill of the night and then the Islander's Kylie Filipiak hit the ball out of bounds.
The Islanders continued to be hampered by attack errors in the fourth set as they were charged with 10 on 40 attempts (.050). In fact, after Corpus Christi tied the score at 13-13 they committed five attack errors and hit into two blocks during the Wildcats' match-closing 12-6 run capped by a block from Walker and Mueller.
ACU blocked 13 shots to the Islanders' five and limited them to a .199 hitting percentage. By comparison, the Wildcats hit .243.
In addition to her 14 kills and seven digs, Smith also scored a pair of service aces through the first two sets in tying Bosse for the all-time program lead with 87. Bosse didn't have any aces tonight, but did post a 40-assist / 12-dig double double with four blocks and two kills.
The Wildcats' three-match homestand continues Thursday with a 6 p.m. match vs. Northwestern State.
