Volleyball heads to Huntsville for Saturday matchup

SATURDAY at SAM HOUSTON

SERIES HISTORY VS. SAM HOUSTON

• ALL-TIME | 15th meeting (SHSU leads 9-5)
• LAST MEETING | Sept. 22, 2022 (ACU W, 3-2)
• STREAK | ACU, w1
• IN ABILENE | Tied 4-4
• IN HUNTSVILLE | SHSU leads 4-3
• NEUTRAL | SHSU leads 1-0
• POSTSEASON | SHSU leads 1-0

ABILENE - ACU closed out their home schedule last weekend, going 1-1, and begins a three-game road swing to close out the regular season. The team has a bye Thursday night making their only match of the week against the Bearkats on Saturday afternoon. The teams met to open the WAC schedule for the Wildcats with ACU earning the five-set victory. The Wildcats will look for the season sweep over a Sam Houston team that has dropped their last eight contests. 

A LOOK AT THE 'CATS

• LATE SEASON PUSH: The Wildcats will likely need to win at least two of their three final matches of the season in order to have a shot at sneaking in to the WAC tournament. The team has won three of their last five matches and have been playing their best volleyball of the season in that stretch. The match at Sam Houston is a must win as the team pushes for a chance to play in the postseason. 
• OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY: The Wildcats have hit over .200 as a team in five of their last even matches and have totaled 53 or more kills in five of those matches as well. The team had a season-high 72 kills on a .351 hitting percentage in their opening conference win against Sam Houston for their best outing of the year and have tallied five matches with 60-plus kills.
• OUTSIDE FORCE: Bryley Steinhilber has tallied double-digit kills in five of her last six matches and set a new career-high with 18 kills on the road at California Baptist. The sophomore outside hitter has hit over .300 four times on the season and has nine double-doubles on the year. She set a new career-high with 21 digs in the Wildcats win over GCU. Her 14-kill performance in a win over Tarleton came on a career-high .400 hitting percentage.
• TRIPLE THREAT: Madeline Guffy has notched a double-double in 11 matches on the year. She continues to have success running the offense, alongside Madison Rohre, and has matched that with her defensive presence as well. Her dig numbers are in the top four on the team and on top of her assists and digs she leads the team with 33 aces on the year (tied for the second most in a season at ACU).
• BLOCK PARTY: The Wildcats have totaled eight or more total blocks in five of their last six matches as they become a more dominant force at the net. The team tallied nine blocks against CBU before putting up 11 blocks in a win over GCU two weekends ago, before tallying eight blocks against UTA and nine against Tarleton last weekend. Braden Bossier leads the team with 77 blocks on the year and is averaging 0.84 blocks per set.
• HOT STARTS: The team has had a number of 1-0 or 2-1 set leads that have ended in losses on the year. The team has lost nine matches on the year where they took the first set or held at least a 2-1 lead. The Wildcats have had great starts in a number of matches but have struggled to play at the same intensity to close out matches.
• FRESHMAN PHENOM: Ashli Edmiston continues to make her mark for the Wildcats this season. The freshman leads the team in both points (260.5) and digs (228) and is second on the team with 226 kills. She opened the season with a double-double, she now has eight on the season, and has 13 double-digit kill performances. Edmiston is also the first freshman to surpass 200 kills for the season since Katelyn Mueller in 2017.
• DIGGING DEEP: The team posted their most digs in a four-set match with 89 against the Lobos on opening weekend and matched that total in a defensive slugfest against Tulsa last weekend. Logan Browning set a new career-high with 27 digs against Tulsa and five different players registered double-digit digs in the match.
• THE BLAIR ERA: Alisa Blair returns to the helm of a program for the first time since spending three seasons as head coach with the Hill College volleyball program where she went 83-38 during her tenure. Blair was instrumental in the success of programs at Central Oklahoma and, most recently, SFA as an assistant and will now strive to bring that same success to Abilene.

SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON (6-20, 3-9 WAC)

• After starting the conference season with a 3-1 record, including wins over SFA and Utah Valley, the Bearkats have dropped their last eight matches. The team has only two set wins over their last five matches and has struggled defensively in their last two matches.
• The team has hit above .200 just once over the last eight matches. Junior, Catherine Krieger is leading the team with 265 kills on the year, averaging 2.70 kills per set. 
• Freshman, Madison Dyer leads the team in points per set (3.22) and has been a great defensive force at the net. She leads the team with 88 blocks on the year and has had nine or more blocks twice this season.

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