Cats Open with 3-1 Win Over HCU

LUBBOCK – Abilene Christian launched the Coach IJ volleyball era with a convincing 3-1 win over Houston Christian in Texas Tech's Under Armour Challenge on Saturday.
 
ACU carried off the win, 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 25-14, against an HCU squad that is the preseason favorite to win the Southland Conference and pushed Texas Tech to five sets on Friday.
 
Wildcats Bryley Steinhilber, Ashli Edmiston and Madeline Guffy each had double-doubles in Coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup's debut as a college head coach.
 
The Huskies struggled all day against the ACU defense, posting a .057 attack percentage. ACU blocked 10 attacks and had five players reach double-figures in digs.
 
Offensively, the Wildcats had a strong 2023 debut, swinging at a .227 clip with three players with 13 or more kills apiece. Braden Bossier had the hot hand with 17 kills on 25 attempts and a .560 attack percentage while also getting in on four blocks.
 
Guffy registered 52 assists for the match, feeding Bossier, Steinhilber (15 kills) and Edmiston (13 kills) a steady diet of solid sets.
 
Breanna Box, Bossier and Emily Mekelburg did the defensive work up front with Box leading with six blocks with Bossier and Mekelburg adding four apiece.
 
The Huskies had a hard time finding a landing place for 119 of their attacks as Sara Carrizales and Steinhilber produced 17 digs each while Abby Christian added 15, Guffy 12 and Edmiston 10.
 
Carrizales added three aces.
 
"I'm very happy with the way the team was able to battle and focus on our side of the court," said Coach Moronu Alstrup. "Our outsides had to carry a heavy load and took a lot of good swings. Our middles did a fantastic job being available in transition and getting positive touches on the block. Our Libero Sara did an incredible job leading our serve recieve as well as playing disciplined and all-out defense to encourage her teammates to do the same. I'm also very proud of freshman Abby stepping into her DS role, nailing passes and getting a lot of great defensive touches. And all of it couldn't have run without our setter Madeline Guffy. She ran the show and delivered split after split. I'm also glad that a lot of our newcomers got to see time on the court and experience their first college game. Go Wildcats!"
 
After the teams played evenly through the first 26 points of the first set, ACU used a 7-2 run to establish a 20-15 lead. Four different Cats had kills in that run. HCU crept as close as two points from there but Bossier ended the set with a kill.
 
The Wildcats led the second set by as many as eight points and Steinhilber closed it out with a kill for a 2-0 lead.
 
ACU trailed by as many as six points in the third set but tied it late on a kill by Guffy before the Huskies avoided the sweep.
 
The Cats refused to let the momentum get away and broke out to a 10-5 lead early in the fourth set, getting two kills each from Bossier and Edmiston to go with two aces by Carrizales.
 
After building a pair of nine-point leads, ACU flexed once more and took five of the last seven points with Hannah Gonzalez ending the match with a kill. The Wildcats swung at a .324 clip in the final set.
 
The Wildcats take a shot at host Texas Tech on Sunday at 2 p.m.