Wildcats Surprise Texas Tech in Four

ABILENE – Abilene Christian got a statement win Tuesday night, beating Texas Tech in four sets, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 25-13.
 
The Wildcats took a set in an earlier meeting in Lubbock but weren't settling for moral victories Tuesday.
 
"We just focused on our side of the court," said ACU Head Coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup. "We stayed aggressive and we were able to rein in our serves a little bit better than last time. This shows us we can compete with the biggest schools out there. We can compete on a national level. It doesn't matter who is on the other side, we're going to focus on our side and whatever the outcome is, the outcome is."
 
The Wildcats fell behind in the first set, 15-12, but a solo block by Breanna Box and consecutive kills by Emily Mekelburg squared things up.
 
Box and Alexis Strong had kills and Ashli Edmiston added an ace in a 4-0 ACU run to build a 20-16 lead.
 
Tech got within a point late but ACU finished with three consecutive points, punctuated by an Edmiston kill for the set.
 
The teams played a tight second set but Braden Bossier got a kill and Box and Hannah Gonzalez finished things off with a block.
 
Texas Tech won the third set.
 
After surrendering the first point of the fourth set, ACU launched an 11-1 run that included three kills and two blocks by Box. ACU was up 11-2 and led by as many as 12 points at three stages of the set. Bossier finished things off and the team stormed the court as a crowd of 669 roared its approval.
 
Bossier led the offense with 14 kills with Mekelburg getting 10, Edmiston adding nine and Box eight.  Guffy accounted for 39 assists and shared the aces lead at two with Sara Carrizales.
 
Carizales led the squad with 27 digs with Guffy adding 11 and Izzy Larson 10.
 
Box dominated the front row defensively, getting in on six blocks.
 
The 5-2 Wildcats head to San Marcos for Texas State's tournament. ACU plays Friday at 3 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana before meeting Cal on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Texas State at 4 p.m.