ABILENE—The 2019 Wildcats volleyball team has touched down in Omaha, Neb. for their first action of the season. The team will face three different teams as part of the Omaha Challenge hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Weekend outlook
The Wildcats will debut a fairly new team when they start play Friday afternoon. The team lost three players who were four-year starters for the program and will look to find young players to step up into new roles. Key returners for ACU include
Katelyn Mueller,
Kennedy Shelstead, and
Marybeth Sandercox. The team will also return
Lorin McNeil from an ACL injury after she played in just 11 matches in 2018. The team finished fourth in Southland Conference play last season but fell to Houston Baptist in the first round of the conference tournament.
Scouting the opponent
Omaha is coming off of a 17-12 season including a 12-4 record in conference play. The team was voted to finish third in the Summit league under Matt Buttermore in his first year with the Mavericks. The team lost just one starter from last year's squad. The Mavericks and Wildcats have faced each other just once before with the Maverick winning in five sets in 2016.
This will be the first time ACU and the
University of Albany meet in program history. The Great Danes were picked to finish second in the America East preseason poll, coming off a 16-11 season including a 9-3 conference record. The team returns the conference Rookie of the Year, setter Andersen Vaughan, as well as five other starters form the 2018 team.
Idaho State should be a familiar opponent for ACU as they will face the Bengals for the second straight season. The Bengals came out with the five-set victory at the Georgia Tech Invitational last season. Idaho State went 19-14 in 2018 under first year head coach, Sammi Stuart, who will look to find more success after returning six starters from last year's team.
Tournament info
8/30 at Omaha 12:30 p.m.
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8/30 vs. Albany 4:30 p.m.
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8/31 vs. Idaho State 11 a.m.
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