RIVERSIDE, Calif. — ACU's 2024 regular season came to a close on Saturday on the road against California Baptist, with the Wildcats falling to the Lancers, 3-0.
The Lancers took the match in straight sets, 25-14, 25-22 and 25-23.
In the first set, hitting errors haunted the Wildcats, with ACU finishing the first with eight kills with eight errors. Meanwhile, the Lancers finished the set hitting .353 percent, allowing the Lancers to take a dominant 25-14 first-set win.
ACU went on to finish the second set hitting a game-best .222 percent while California Baptist finished hitting .244 percent. ACU started the second set well, going up 5-0 early, but a 6-2 run in the middle of the set from the Lancers helped them gain the lead. The rest of the set went back and forth, but CBU went on to take a 25-22 second set win.
The third set echoed the second, with the Wildcats getting out to an early 13-7 lead thanks to a 6-1 run. The Lancers battled their way back due to a 7-0 run to help take a late 16-15 lead. ACU went on to have eight errors in the set while CBU only had two, allowing CBU to take the set 25-23 and then clinch the match.
The Wildcats finished the match hitting .127 while CBU finished hitting .267. ACU did hold a 35-33 kill advantage, a 50-38 advantage in digs and a 33-28 assist advantage. But that was where the advantages stopped. California Baptist dominated from the service line with 11 aces to ACU's five and the Lancers dominated the net, holding a 10-1 blocking advantage over ACU.
Hannah Gonzalez led ACU with 10 kills, with Alexis Strong adding seven and Bryley Steinhilber finishing with six. Abby Christian led ACU with three aces while Madeline Guffy followed with two. Guffy also led the team with 28 assists. Steinhilber and Sydney Payne both finished with a team-best 11 digs, and Avery Thaler had the lone block for the Wildcats.
Now, the Wildcats head to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament for the second straight season, this year, being held just down the road in Arlington. With the loss, the Wildcats fall to the eighth seed, with a match against WAC regular-season champion and tournament host, UT Arlington. The Wildcats were 0-2 against the Mavericks this season, losing both matches 3-0.
First serve against the Mavericks will be on Thursday, November 21, beginning at 7 p.m. Fans can buy tickets HERE, with the game also streaming live on ESPN+. If fans 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.
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