ABILENE – Abilene Christian hosts two key matches this week with California Baptist visiting at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Grand Canyon coming in for an 11 a.m. contest on Saturday.
ACU comes into the week in seventh place and in control of its own destiny. Eight teams advance to the WAC Volleyball Tournament next month. Utah Tech and Tarleton State are both a game behind the Wildcats in the standings. Utah Tech has a more favorable schedule but does not have the tiebreaker head-to-head with ACU. Tarleton State and ACU have the same schedule and the Texans would hold the tiebreaker with the Wildcats if they pull the upset in Abilene in the season finale.
Abilene Christian comes into the week at 10-14 overall and 5-7 in the WAC.
Bryley Steinhilber leads the Cats with 3.01 kills per set with
Ashli Edmiston close behind at 2.68. Feeding the attack has been
Madeline Guffy with 9.16 assists per game.
Guffy also has been valuable at the service line with 35 aces while
Abby Christian has 30 and
Sara Carrizales has 27.
Carrizales, who has played every set this season, leads the team with 3.39 digs per set with
Andie Sheppard coming on strong at 3.36.
Breanna Box and
Braden Bossier have been the leading blockers with 49 and 48 respectively.
California Baptist is 14-9 this season with a 7-5 conference mark, having won four straight matches. During that string, CBU has won 12 of 13 sets.
ACU won the previous match in Riverside this season, 3-2. In that contest, Steinhilber had 25 kills, Sheppard had 19 digs and Box and Steinhilber had four blocks each.
Michalina Rolla leads the team with 3.22 kills per set and had 17 in the previous match against Abilene. The Lancers get 3.71 digs per set from Brianna Young and 3.01 from Mia Jerue. Jerue also has a team-best 40 aces. Chandler Gorman, who had six blocks in the previous match with ACU, averages 0.84.
ACU celebrates Sheppard and Bossier, its two seniors, and graduate students Box and
Hannah Knier in their last home match on Saturday.
Grand Canyon plays at Tarleton State on Thursday but rolls into the week on a six-match winning streak. The Lopes are 18-5 overall and 11-1 in the conference. GCU scored a 3-0 win at home against ACU.
Tatum Parrot leads GCU with 4.55 kills and has 32 aces. Klaire Mitchell averages 10.46 assists per game and leads the team with 35 aces.
The Lopes have strength defensively, front and back. Alissa Uhlenhop averages 1.11 blocks per set and Trista Sasser is close behind at 1.01. Tatum Thomas averages 3.63 digs.
