OMAHA, Neb.—The Abilene Christian Wildcats started their 2019 campaign at the Omaha Challenge with two games on Friday afternoon. ACU faced off with the host school in their first match of the season followed by a match the University of Albany.
MATCH 1
The Wildcats started out strong in set one pushing their lead to as many as five early on. The team was able to capitalize on several errors by the Mavericks early and held a lead as late as 19-15 before Omaha ran off four straight points to tie the set at 19 all. The teams traded points, but it was ultimately the Mavericks who came away with the set, 25-23.
The Mavericks rode their late momentum into the next set as they went up early. ACU cut into the lead trailing only 10-8, but Omaha fired off six straight points to extend their lead to eight points and they didn't look back. Omaha took the second set 25-11. The Wildcats kept set three close and took a two point lead at 17-15 before the Mavericks ended the match on a 10-1 run to win 25-18.
MATCH 2
ACU started out hot against Albany, hitting .393 en route to a 25-23 set one victory. The Great Danes would answer with a win in set two, 25-21, to even the match at a set apiece. Albany hit .371 for the match including two sets where they hit over .400 in a solid offensive outing.
Albany would use that hot hitting to take a 25-16 win in set three and seemed to have all of the momentum heading into set four. Down 19-13, the Wildcats rallied back with a 9-2 run that saw them take the 22-21 lead. The teams traded points down the stretch, but it was ultimately the Great Danes who came away with 26-24 win, going to extra points.
News and Notes
Match 1:
- Junior starter, Kate Mueller went down with an injury early in the first set and did not return.
- Freshman, Mackenzie Harris earned the start at libero in her first collegiate action.
- The Wildcats had several unforced errors, compiling only 23 kills to 15 attack errors.
Match 2:
- Both middle blockers hit over .400 in the match. Kennedy Shelstead went 19-of-29 to hit .517 while Lorin McNeil went 9-of-20 to hit .450.
- The team's hitting percentage was greatly improved over the first match of the day, from .086 to .256.
- The 19 kills and .517 hitting percentage were both career-highs for Shelstead.
Mooney Said It
On the middle's success against Albany: "We served really well vs Albany. Serving well got them out of system and forced them to give us a lot of easier off speed balls which allowed us to set Lorin and Kennedy in system quite a bit. Both did a great job of seeing their offensive priorities and executing at the net."
On adjusting to a new lineup: "With the loss of Kate in the first match we had a few players playing out of position in the Albany match. Even though we are a younger, less experienced team, I believe our team handled the adversity and new line-up with maturity."
On the team's focus heading into tomorrow: "Moving into tomorrow we are going to continue to focus on our side of the net. We want to control the match with our style of play. This first weekend will be about growing and learning what we want our identity as a team to be."
On the team's competitiveness: "Even w the two losses, I am proud of how we are competing and learning from each opportunity."
Up Next
The Wildcats have one more match in the Omaha Classic. They will face Idaho State at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning.
