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Volleyball celebrates a kill against UTA
Bryan Box

Women's Volleyball

VB returns home to host McNeese and Lamar

ABILENE—After splitting two Southland matches on the road last weekend, the Wildcats are back in Abilene this weekend looking to get two tough conference wins. The Wildcats will host McNeese on Thursday night and Lamar on Saturday afternoon with a chance to move to 3-1 in Southland play. The Wildcats earned a tough five-set win at UIW before struggling against a quick Islander offense in Corpus Christi last weekend. This weekend will be another tough stretch, but the team is primed to bounce back at home. 

WILDCATS WEEKEND OUTLOOK 

ACU has had success against McNeese and Lamar in the past with their most recent meetings going in favor of the Wildcats. In the last weekend of conference action in 2019, ACU swept McNeese before coming back from down 0-2 to get a five-set victory over Lamar on Senior Day. While this team look a lot different from the 2019 team, they have the skill sets and energy to come away with two important wins. 

Kate Mueller has shown herself to be one of the premier players in the conference through two weekends of action and she will be one of the best, if not the best, player on the court this weekend. She has secured double-digit kills in each match so far and had a career-high 22 kills at UIW. The team has shown potential to be a top-tier blocking team and as they continue through the season, those numbers should only get better. Mooney has shown she is not afraid to go to the bench if needed and freshmen, Emily Van Dyke and Zoe Dalessandri, have both played valuable minutes off the bench when needed. This team is only going to get better as the season goes on and this weekend should provide two exciting matches at home. 

ACU PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lindsey Toney celebrates a point
Lindsey Toney
Braden Bossier celebrates a point
Braden Bossier

Toney has embraced her role on the right side and has provided the Wildcats with a powerful offensive weapon and a high-level blocker at that position. In just over two sets of action against Corpus she had six blocks and she has had two matches with double-digit kills. The junior is one of only a few upperclassmen on the team and her skills and leadership have been key early on. 

Bossier earned a starting spot for the Wildcats as a freshman and has shown that she is capable of making a difference at the net. She has had her ups and downs early in the season but what stands out is her blocking ability in the middle. She leads the team in blocks per set at 0.87 which is also the 10th best mark in the conference on the season. Her impact defensively at the net will be important this weekend.

SCOUTING THE COWGIRLS

  • McNeese elected to only play conference games on the season and after the first weekend of action, the team is 2-0 with wins over Southeaster La. and Nicholls. 
  • The Cowgirls have a veteran team and return a good portion of their impact players from a season ago. 
  • Regan Stiawalt leads the team with 74 kills on a .378 hitting percentage. Her 4.38 kills per set currently ranks third in the conference. 
  • While the team has a number of veteran players, they are helmed by first-year head coach Kristee Porter. 

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS

  • Lamar has opened the season 0-6 and had their most recent game postponed due to COVID on the opposing team. They played a tough schedule to open the season, including two non-conference matches with SFA. 
  • The team played just one conference match and fell to New Orleans at home, 1-3. 
  • The Cardinals have a fairly new team compared to last year's squad but return their leading offensive threat, Bre'Ala Box. The senior leads the team hitting .255 with 42 kills. 
  • Lamar has struggled offensively, hitting just .111 on the season compared to their opponents hitting .280.