ABILENE, Texas — The Wildcats saw their first loss inside Moody Coliseum on Saturday, as they fell to the UT Arlington Mavericks, 3-0.
ACU kept it tight in the first set with a final score of 28-26 in UTA's favor, then lost to the top team in the Western Athletic Conference 25-15 and 25-19.
In the first, the Mavericks started the match on a 6-0 run, but ACU responded midway through the set with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 12-12. The two teams were knotted up for the vast majority of the set until UTA went on a quick 3-0 swing to take the first set.
In the second set, the UTA Mavericks hit lights out, hitting .423 percent in the set compared to ACU's .097 to take the second set. In the third, ACU finished hitting -.174, allowing UTA to take the match in a sweep.
In terms of statistics, ACU trailed the Mavericks in many areas. ACU finished with 29 kills to UTA's 34, four aces to the Mavericks seven, and six blocks to their 10 blocks. The 'Cats finished with 27 assists to the Mavericks 34 and 30 digs and to UTA's 34 digs.
What ultimately plagued the Wildcats was unforced errors, with the team finishing with nine service errors and 27 hitting errors.
Hannah Gonzalez led the team with eight kills and a team-high three blocks. Bryley Steinhilber was right behind her with seven kills along with seven digs.
Rachel Koss led the team with two aces, plus a team-best 14 assists and eight digs.
Up next, the Wildcats will hit the road for their longest trip of the season to take on Utah Valley in Orem, Utah on October 17 at 7 p.m., then they will head to Seattle on Saturday at 3 p.m. to take on the Seattle U Redhawks.
Both matches will stream live on ESPN+, but you can also follow the team and the road trip by following the team on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com.
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