ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball kicked off Southland Conference competition Thursday night at Moody Coliseum with a 3-0 win over Lamar that lasted just over 70 minutes. The Wildcats defeated the Cardinals by scores of 25-21, 25-14 and 25-19 in improving to 4-9 (1-0 SLC) on the season, while Lamar fell to 3-9 (0-1 SLC).
ACU now leads its all-time series vs. Lamar, 4-3, having won four of the last five meetings including two in three sets.
The Wildcats .284 hitting percentage (36-for-88, 11 errors) was their best since Opening Day vs. Georgetown (.290) as a balanced attack allowed five players to finish with six or more kills. Sophomore Katelyn Mueller and senior Lauren Walker tied for the team lead with eight kills, senior Jacey Smith was right behind them with seven, followed by junior Kennedy Shelstead and Marybeth Sandercox with six.
Guiding the offense was setter Kendall Bosse, who tossed up 30 assists (10.0 per set) in lifting her season total to a conference-leading 508.
Sandercox came off the bench to contribute 7.0 points on six kills (.500) and two blocks, while Walker led all scorers with 11.0 points via eight kills (.500), two aces and pair of blocks. Senior libero Lillian Drever also scored two aces on top of her eight digs, which helped limit Lamar to a .163 hitting percentage.
ACU dug out 36 of the Cardinals' 98 overall attacks and kept them without a service ace. In fact, Lamar is the first Wildcat opponent since UTRGV in 2016 (Sept. 9) not to register a single ace.
The Wildcats were as balanced defensively as offensively with four players digging out seven or more attacks. Junior Amanda Chapa recorded nine digs, followed by Drever with eight, and outside hitters Mueller and Smith with seven.
Smith, Walker, Shelstead and Sandercox additionally were part of at least two blocks with Shelstead credited with two block assists and one solo rejection.
ACU trailed the Cardinals only six times all match with five of those occasions taking place in the first set as the visitors jumped out to a 9-7 lead. The Wildcats rallied to tie the score at 10-10 but didn't go ahead for good until a 4-1 run involving kills from Sandercox, Walker and Smith and an ace by Drever provided a 20-17 cushion.
Lamar called a timeout and eventually got back to within one point of the Wildcats at 20-19 on a kill by Bre'Ala Box, but the Cardinals hurt their cause with two additional service errors while trying to play catch up. Their second miscue from the service line put ACU ahead 23-20, and the home team went on to take a 1-0 lead on kills from Shelstead and Bosse.
The Wildcats went on to crush the Cardinals in the second set, starting with a 10-2 lead that forced Lamar to burn a timeout in the early stages, and in set three, ACU used a 5-1 run to grab a comfortable seven-point lead at 17-10. Lamar would not get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
ACU returns to action Saturday, Sept. 22 vs. McNeese at 1 p.m. to complete its two-match Southland Conference homestand.
