ABILENE—The Wildcats are back at Moody Coliseum where they will host their fourth game in seven days. Last Tuesday, ACU was able to break their winless streak with a dominant performance over New Orleans, but a road trip to face Northwestern State and Central Arkansas saw the Wildcats take two more losses. The team will be at home for both matches this week as they host Houston Baptist and Sam Houston State.
Wildcats weekend outlook
After dropping both of their matches on the road this past weekend, the Wildcats are in a must-win situation if they want to make it in to the conference tournament. ACU is currently tied with three other schools for eighth place in the standings but they do have a favorable schedule to close out the season. This week they will host two teams in the top half of the conference standings, but the Wildcats have looked like a different team when playing on their home court.
Kennedy Shelstead and
Lorin McNeil continue to produce solid numbers from the middle for the Wildcats but the defense has been less consistent in keeping their offense in system so
Madison Rohre can feature the middle.
Katelyn Mueller saw her first action of the season since an injury in the team's first match of the year. It remains to be seen if she will see the court in the last quarter of the season, but she put up solid numbers in just over one set of action at UCA. The team has now featured four different liberos on the season and will need to see their defense solidify if they want to find success against two tough teams at home.
Scouting the opponent
Houston Baptist sits at 6-4 in conference play coming into this week. They are coming off of a 2-0 weekend at home where they earned wins over SLU and Lamar. Mikayla Vivens has led the Huskies offensively, averaging 3.30 kills per set which is fifth in the Southland Conference. As a team, the Huskies are just ahead of ACU in team blocks while also allowing the third fewest blocks against them in the league. The team also ranks second in the conference in digs per set with tree different players who have totaled 275 or more digs on the season.
Sam Houston State started conference play 6-0 before going 2-2 over their last four contests. The Bearkats dropped a tough match on the road at A&M-CC but it was a stunning five-set loss to McNeese at home last week that shocked the conference. SHSU has been a tough matchup for many conference teams, including Northwestern State who fell in four sets to the Bearkats. SHSU has the fourth-highest team hitting percentage in the conference and their leading hitter, Ashley Lewis, ranks second in the conference for kills per set at 3.59. The Bearkats do struggle hitting around the block and if the Wildcats can capitalize on their blocking strength, they could make it difficult for the SHSU offense to get rolling.
How to follow along
10/29 vs. Houston Baptist
Live video |
Live stats
11/2 vs. Sam Houston State
Live video |
Live stats
Also, follow along on @ACU_Volleyball Instagram and Twitter for in-game updates.
