ABILENE — The 'Cats hope to win their first game in Western Athletic Conference play this week as they return to Moody Coliseum for matches against California Baptist and Seattle U.
First, the Wildcats will play the California Baptist Lancers on Thursday at 6 p.m. for Hispanic Heritage Night. Then, on Saturday, ACU will play the Seattle U Redhawks on Saturday at 11 a.m. for Big Country Day.
The game against the Lancers on Thursday will be streamed on ESPN+, while the Wildcats' match against the Redhawks will be streamed live on WAC International.
"Going into the weekend, we are excited to play in front of our great Moody crowd," head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. "Our focus going into the weekend with matches will be on our side of the court. We want to get back to having high-level serve and serve receive, executing on first touch and our out-of-system play will be important for us. I'm excited to see how our team responds after the tough loss on Saturday, with this just being the beginning of conference and we plan to continue to take steps forward all the way into the conference tournament weekend."
ACU Storylines:
LAST WEEK IN UTAH: Last week, ACU fell to 0-2 in conference play after seeing back-to-back 3-0 sweeps on the road at Utah Tech on Thursday and at Southern Utah on Saturday.
WAC STANDINGS: The 'Cats are currently seventh in the WAC out of the nine-team field. UT Arlington is at the top of the league with a 2-0 conference record and 12-2 overall record. UTA is followed by Utah Tech, Southern Utah, Grand Canyon, California Baptist and Utah Valley. Ranked below the 'Cats are Tarleton State and Seattle U.
KILLER INSTINCTS: Senior outside Bryley Steinhilber leads the Wildcats with 129 kills so far this season. She also leads all pin hitters with a .153 hitting percentage so far this season. Behind Steinhilber is Hannah Gonzalez with 93 kills hitting a team-best .249 percent.
BLOCK PARTY: ACU's three middle blockers are making an impact on the net. Hannah Gonzalez leads the team with 35 blocks, freshman Avery Thaler has 18 blocks in her first her and restart junior Nieko Thomas rounds to the group with 14 blocks.
SETTING UP: Senior Madeline Guffy leads the Wildcats with 303 assists so far this season. Sophomore Rachel Koss also returns to the lineup after being out since Sept. 6 with an ankle injury. She had six assists last week against Southern Utah, totaling 39 assists so far this season.
DIGGING DEEPER: Three Wildcats have over 100 digs so far this season. Sara Carrizales leads all players with 126 digs and 2.93 digs per set. Madeline Guffy has 105 digs and Bryley Steinhilber has 104 digs so far this season.
CAREER MILESTONE WATCH: Several Wildcats are closing in on career milestones. Sophomore Abby Christian is 14 digs away from 300 digs, Izabelle Larson is 16 kills away from 100 kills, Bryley Steinhilber is 26 kills away from 800 kills, Sasha Stotler is 20 away from 100 kills and Nieko Thomas is 19 away from 100 kills.
History with California Baptist
- The series between ACU and CBU is tied, 2-2
- Current Streak: ACU, 2 wins
- Last ACU win: Nov. 2 2023, 3-2
- Last CBU win: Oct. 13 2022, 3-1
Scouting the Lancers
- California Baptist is 1-13 so far this season, with their only win being a 3-0 sweep of Utah Valley in Riverside. In the second match in the opening weekend of conference play, they took UTA to five sets, ultimately falling to the top-seeded Mavericks.
- The Lancers are fifth in the WAC standings due to their 1-1 conference play record.
- Opposite Eliana Posada leads the Lancers with 98 kills while hitting .114 so far this season. Middle Madison Gilliland has a team-best .331 hitting percentage with 70 kills and also leads the team with 37 blocks so far this season.
- Avery Barber and Reese Reed direct the Lancers' offense, with Barber having 204 assists so far this season and Reed being right behind her with 198. Mia Jerue leads the passing efforts with 147 digs so far this year.
History with Seattle U
- The Wildcats lead the series, 2-1
- Current Streak: SU, 1 win
- Last ACU win: Sept. 21 2023, 3-0
- Last SU win: Oct. 28 2023, 3-0
Scouting the Redhawks
- Seattle U is 2-10 so far this season, with their only wins being against CSUN and Air Force.
- The Redhawks are 0-2 in conference play, having two four-set losses at home against Grand Canyon and Utah Valley. The team is currently ninth in the WAC standings.
- Outside Arianna Bilby leads her team with 131 kills this season. Middle Yasemin Elmas has the best hitting percentage on the team, hitting .279 so far this season. She also leads the team with 42 blocks.
- Setter Elif Teksoy has a team-best 246 assists so far this season closely followed by Ante Asuncion with 128 assists. Libero Katlyn Sipes leads the back line with 175 digs so far this season, with outside Merima Smajlovic sitting in second with 116 digs.
#Unshakable #GoWildcats
