Vets carry scoring load during intrasquad battle

Box Score (.pdf)
 

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ABILENE – Junior Marybeth Sandercox totaled a match-high 17 points on 12 kills and 10 block assists, and senior Jacey Smith provided a dozen additional strikes during Abilene Christian volleyball's annual intrasquad Friday night at Moody Coliseum.

ACU White defeated Purple, 3-1, by scores of 25-10, 25-21, 20-25, 25-15; however, a majority of the Wildcats' 20 student-athletes played for both teams.
 

Hear from head coach @AngelaMooney02 after @ACU_Volleyball purple-white scrimmage: pic.twitter.com/AhH21uSFjA

— ACU Sports (@ACUsports) August 18, 2018

The game one starting lineups pitted many of last year's returning starters (White) – Sandercox, Smith, Kendall Bosse, Mikai Brown, Lorin McNeil, Katelyn Mueller and Lauren Walker – vs. a wealth of newcomers and second-year players (Purple), including Texas Tech transfer Eighmy Dobbins, redshirts Peyten Boutwell and Kennedy Shelstead, plus freshmen Temi Fayiga, Lindsey Toney, Brittney Roberts and junior libero Amanda Chapa.

White jumped ahead 6-2, but after the opposition cut its deficit to 8-6, the vets responded with a 6-0 run during which the newcomers committed four errors. White later showed off on the attack, receiving a combined eight kills from five different players in grabbing a 23-10 lead.

White finished game one with an exceptional .344 hitting percentage.

Junior Sofia Resendiz, who earlier today received a scholarship in front of her teammates and ACU President Dr. Phil Schubert, then capped the game with consecutive aces. Resendiz appeared in all four sets tonight, digging out a game-high 16 attacks while providing five assists.

The game two and three starting lineups were an equal combination of veterans and newcomers, and early on in the second contest it appeared Purple was primed to tie the score at 1-1 after jumping out to a 14-9 lead thanks to consecutive kills from Mueller.

White then went on a 7-2 run to tie the score at 16-16 thanks to a trio of kills from newcomers Dobbins (11.5 points) and Toney (11 points). The score went back-and-forth over several possessions – all the way to 21-21 – until White finished on a 4-0 flurry.

A service ace from Smith brought her team to game point, and Dobbins and McNeil clinched it with a block.

Purple again started game three with a sizable lead, 11-4, led by five blocks from its defense, but after White trimmed its deficit to 19-17, Sandercox responded with three kills over the next six possessions to finish the game with seven kills in addition to six block assists.

Purple hit .290 in game three with 13 kills, but couldn't maintain its momentum with a majority of the starters playing for White in game four (Bosse, McNeil, Mueller, Walker and Smith).

White registered a set-high 17 kills (.310) in the night's final contest while delivering two aces and two blocks. The White team also jumped out to an early five-point lead at 9-4, while never letting Purple get closer than two points.

A 7-1 run late in the game pushed White's lead to 21-13 and finished the match with kills from Bosse, Smith and Walker. Bosse recorded five of her nine kills in the fourth game, finishing with 11.0 points.

The Wildcats have several more practices schedule between Saturday and the middle of next week before flying to Atlanta for a four-match tournament hosted by Georgia Tech.