ABILENE -- Abilene Christian volleyball begins its final week of the regular season as one of four Southland Conference teams in the hunt for one of the three remaining tournament bids. Following last Saturday's matches, spots had been clinched by co-leaders Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin (9-1), Southeastern Louisiana (8-2), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (7-3) and Houston Baptist (7-3).Â
The Wildcats will play two of those teams this week beginning with Tuesday's 6:30 p.m. match at HBU followed by a Saturday 11 a.m. contest at Sam Houston. The Huskies are a 1.0 game ahead of the Wildcats for fifth place at 7-3, so a victory by ACU tonight would improve their standing and put them three wins ahead of ninth-place UIW (4-6). McNeese (5-5) and Central Arkansas (6-4) are the other teams this week hoping to clinch a postseason berth.
ACU defeated both McNeese (3-1) and UIW (3-2) earlier this year, but were swept by the UCA Bears last Saturday as part of a 1-1 homestand that started with Thursday's 3-0 win over Northwestern State.
Senior
Katelyn Mueller was ACU's point leader (28.5) during her final two home matches with the Wildcats. She registered 24 kills (4.0 per set), served a pair of aces and was part of four blocks (one solo).
Lindsey Toney also had a solid week, hitting a team best .324 on 37 attempts, while
Braden Bossier had 13 kills and a team high seven blocks.
Mueller is No. 4 in the Southland with 3.92 kills per set and ranks third with 4.45 points per set.
Bossier ranks second in the conference with 1.14 blocks per set behind HBU's Ebonis Ballesteros (1.30). The Huskies and Bearkats additionally are first and second in the league, respectively, with 2.32 and 2.18 blocks per set.
Sam Houston is the conference's best defensive team based on current rankings. The Bearkats have the most digs per set at 18.44 and have allowed the lowest opponent hitting percentage (.123), while also surrendering the fewest number of kills (10.64) and aces (0.74).
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