ABILENE—The Wildcats had four players notch double-digit kills on the way to a five-set victory over UT Arlington. Much like Friday night's game, the Wildcats got out to a quick start with a win followed by the teams trading set wins forcing a fifth set. What wasn't similar to last night's match was the more consistent and aggressive offense from ACU. The team limited errors and found ways to put the ball down while also finding a way to close out the match in the fifth set.
The youth of the team showed in a set two loss that ACU led 20-15 before falling 27-25, but they put together a come back of their own in set three. The Wildcats initially allowed a four-point lead to slip away and found themselves down two points late, but they close the set with a 7-5 run to go up 2-1. UTA got out to a quick lead in set four and the Wildcats were down by as many as eight points early before storming back to make the set close. Though UTA had won the fourth set, the energy had shifted to ACU and they used that momentum to close out the set and match.
Once again,
Katelyn Mueller notched a double-double and led the team with 16 kills.
Lindsey Toney put up 12 kills on an efficient .455 hitting percentage. After opening the season with a stellar defense effort, Kate Blasingame put her offense to work as well on Saturday as she also notched a double-double with 16 kills and 14 digs. Defensively,
Mackenzie Harris put together a solid night with 20 digs.
SCORING SUMMARY
Set 1: 25-21
Set 2: 25-27
Set 3: 25-23
Set 4: 22-25
Set 5: 15-9
COACH AND PLAYER INTERVIEW
NEWS AND NOTES
- The Wildcats improved both their aces and blocking numbers from the first game, this time earning the 8-4 advantage in aces.
- ACU also held the advantage in kills (64-61) and digs (80-77).
- It was a pair of freshman who shut the door on the match for the Wildcats when Sarah Nading and Braden Bossier put up the huge block for match point.
- Mueller is now just 15 kills away from moving up to fifth place in ACU's DI record book.
- The 64 kills for ACU is tied for the eight-most in a match in DI history. It's their most kills in a match sinc they had 66 against HBU in October 2018.
UP NEXT
ACU will begin Southland Conference play next weekend as they travel to UIW and A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve on Thursday at UIW is slated for 7 p.m.
