ABILENE – Down 14-12 in the fifth set and facing perhaps their first Southland Conference home defeat of the season, the Wildcats (7-10, 4-1 Southland) produced an astonishing match-ending rally to stun Houston Baptist (9-11, 2-4 Southland) Thursday night at Moody Coliseum.
Head Coach Angela Mooney's Postmatch comments
Senior Lauren Walker, who led Abilene Christian tonight with career highs in points (20.5) and kills (17), was involved in the final three plays, including two blocks with setter Kendall Bosse (53 assists) against HBU's primary attacker Mikayla Vivens (24K). Their first block tied the score at 14-14. Bosse then assisted on Walker's final kill for ACU's 15th point, and won it together on another block following the Huskies' final timeout.
Match-winning point from Kendall Bosse and Lauren Walker
ACU blocked a total of 12.0 shots, including four in the last set, and five times vs. Vivens, who was limited to a .169 attack percentage after racking up match highs with 10 errors and 83 attempts. The defense additionally dug out 89 of 210 attacks with four players registering 10 or more digs.
Senior Lillian Drever led all players with 31 digs followed by sophomore Katelyn Mueller (16), senior Mikai Brown (15) and senior Jacey Smith, who recorded her 10th double double (16K, 14 digs) over the last 12 matches.
Smith's final kill of the evening followed ACU's last timeout of the match, setting the stage for Walker's and Bosse's heroics. The Wimberley, Texas, native ripped five kills in the fifth set in addition to delivering the fourth-set winner after HBU narrowed the score to 24-23.
The third and fourth sets produced some frantic moments for both sides. ACU not only lost a seven-point advantage near the start of the third set but couldn't close matters after being the first to reach set point at 24-22 on one of seven HBU service errors.
The Huskies eventually took what was only their second lead of the set at 25-24 on an ACU attack error, but the Wildcats twice battled back to tie the score at 26 (kill by Mueller) and 27 (kill by Kennedy Shelstead). From there, however, Vivens took over in giving her team a two sets to one advantage with consecutive kills off assists from Madison O'Brien (59 assists).
ACU again got off to a hot start in the fourth set only to watch HBU flip a six-point deficit (14-8) into a three-point lead (20-17).
The Huskies then became a bit mistake prone as a bad set from Kayla Davenport was followed by four consecutive attack errors that put ACU ahead for good at 22-20. Shelstead (11K, 7 blocks) – a junior middle blocker – hammered down back-to-back kills that made it a 24-21 score and Smith followed three services later with the set winner.
Shelstead finished the match with 15.0 points, while outside hitters Mueller and Smith each totaled 17.0 points. Two of Mueller's points were on service aces.
The Wildcats' busy week continues with matches Thursday and Saturday at New Orleans and Nicholls. Match times are 6 p.m. and noon.
ACU is home again next Tuesday at 6 p.m. to start a three-match homestand vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State (Thursday at 6 p.m.) and Southeastern Louisiana (Saturday at 1 p.m.).
