Volleyball Heads to Mississippi for Two

ABILENE – Abilene Christian volleyball hits the road for its final pre-conference tournament in Starkville, Mississippi, where the Wildcats play Lipscomb at 3 p.m. on Friday and Mississippi State at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
 
ACU comes into the tournament at 5-5 after a tough weekend at the Texas State Tournament last weekend.
 
The Wildcats will be meeting both Lipscomb and Mississippi State for the first time.
 
ACU Storylines
 
WAC UPCOMING: The Western Athletic Conference season starts next week. As a group, the league is eight games over .500 this season in non-conference games. Stephen F. Austin and Texas-Arlington top the WAC at 8-2 in non-conference matches. ACU, Grand Canyon and California Baptist have registered wins versus Power-5 schools.
 
KILL CLUB: The Wildcats have four players getting more than two kills per set, led by Ashli Edmiston at 3.08 kills per set. Braden Bossier gets 2.46, followed by Bryley Steinhilber at 2.29 and Breanna Box at 2.19. Alexis Strong is close behind at 1.83.
 
SET: Madeline Guffy and Rachel Koss have split time at the setter position. Koss has a slight statistical edge at 8.94 sets per game while Guffy checks in at 8.92. Guffy's 52 sets against Houston Christian is the top mark in four-set matches in the WAC this season.
 
ACES-R-US: Four Wildcats have double-digit aces through 10 matches. Madeline Guffy and Sara Carrizales have 15 apiece, followed by Abby Christian at 14 and Izzy Larson with 10. ACU is third in the league with 1.87 aces per set.
 
BIG DIGS: Sara Carrizales is putting up nice numbers in the digs category at 4.24 per set. She is third in the Western Athletic Conference. She had a 27-dig outing in the win over Texas Tech that ranks as the most in a WAC four-set match this season.
 
BLOCKAGE: Three Wildcats are averaging more than half a block per set. Breanna Box leads the team at 0.67, followed by Braden Bossier at 0.54 and Hannah Gonzalez at 0.52.
 

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Scouting Lipscomb

• Lipscomb is 3-4 this season but on a three-match winning streak that includes a victory over Kansas State.
• Jada DaVita leads the Bisons with 3.12 kills per set and a .289 attack percentage.
• Delaney Smith checks in at 3.5 digs per set and also leads the team with 12 aces.
• Meg Mersman averages 0.96 blocks per game

 

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Scouting Mississippi State

• The Bulldogs are 5-3 after being swept by Wake Forest on Sunday.
• Karli Schmidt leads MSU with 3.61 kills per set.
• Lauren Myrick averages 4.61 digs per set and was SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 28.
• Rebecca Walk is averaging one block per set.
• Sophie Agee has 12 aces in eight matches this season.