ABILENE, Texas — The Wildcats stretched their win streak to two games and punched their ticket to the WAC Tournament in Arlington on Thursday at Grand Canyon, 3-1.
The Wildcats took a dominant first-set win 25-18, but then the Lopes took the second set, 25-19. The Wildcats responded and took the final two sets 25-20 and 25-22.
The Lopes got a 4-1 start in the first set, but the Wildcats quickly took the momentum back and tied the game at 9-9. The Wildcats went on to finish the first set on a dominant 8-2 run featuring two service aces from Madeline Guffy to take the first set.
The only set where the Wildcats slightly struggled was the second set, with the Lopes hitting .297 in the set while ACU only hit .200 in the set. GCU went on to take their only set in the match, 25-19.
In the third and fourth sets, ACU hit 0.275 percent while earning 30 kills in the two sets. The Wildcats started the third set on a 5-2 and ended it on a 5-1 run to take a 25-20 third set win. In the fourth set, the Lopes and Wildcats exchanged runs back and forth before the Wildcats finished the match on a 6-1 run to clinch the win.
Heading into the weekend, the Wildcats needed one win to clinch a spot in the WAC Tournament starting November 21 at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. With the win against Grand Canyon, the Wildcats earned their spot.
The Wildcats finished the match with 55 kills while hitting .242 percent while holding GCU to 46 kills and a .155 hitting percentage. ACU ended the match leading in several other statistical categories. ACU held an 8-6 ace advantage, a 10-8 block advantage and a 51-40 assists advantage. The only place where GCU outperformed ACU was in digs, only holding a 69-67 advantage over the Wildcats.
Senior Brylety Steinhilber led the Wildcat offense with 19 kills while hitting .306 plus adding eight digs and two blocks. Hannah Gonzalez added 13 kills and was one of two Wildcats with three aces for ACU. The three aces for Gonzalez was also a career-high for the sophomore.
Madeline Guffy led the team with 42 assists while being the second Wildcat with three service aces. Playing back row, freshman setter Sydney Payne stepped in as a defensive specialist and finished the night with 11 digs and two aces.
Defensively, Nieko Thomas finished the night with a career and game-high nine blocks while also having six kills while hitting .333 percent. Annsleise Sevier was second in blocking for ACU with three blocks while also adding six kills of her own. Libero Abby Christian led ACU with 17 digs, followed by Payne, Guffy and Carrizales with 11 digs each.
Up next, the Wildcats will play for better tournament seeding while closing out the regular season on Saturday in Riverside, California at 5 p.m. against California Baptist. The 'Cats are currently seventh in the standings, with a shot to move up the standing with another win on Saturday. The game will also stream live on ESPN+.
If you can't catch the match in person or on ESPN+, or you can also receive updates by following the team on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com.
#Unshakeable #GoWildcats
