ABILENE, Texas — The Wildcats will hope to make their postseason dreams come true as they head to Arlington for the 2024 Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
ACU enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed for the second consecutive season, hoping to surprise the conference in making a deep tournament run. Up first, they have to get past the No. 1 seed and tournament favorite, UT Arlington.
First serve for the Wildcats and Mavericks is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. in the College Park Center. Fans can tickets HERE, or fans who can't make the game can also stream the tournament live on ESPN+.
ACU Storylines:
THE FINAL WEEK REGULAR SEASON: The Wildcats finished their final week of the regular season on the road with a 1-1 record. First, ACU earned a 3-1 win in an upset over the second-best team in the WAC, Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona. Then, the 'Cats saw a 3-0 loss to close out the season at California Baptist.
ROLLING IN: After suffering an eight-game losing streak, ACU won two of its last three games to help clinch a spot in the WAC Tournament. The two wins included a 3-2 thrilling Senior Day win over Southern Utah in Abilene and a 3-1 upset on the road against Grand Canyon.
THE SPECTACULAR STEINHILBER: After a standout senior season, Bryley Steinhilber received her first postseason recognition since her freshman year. Steinhilber earned a spot on the All-WAC Second Team. She finished the regular season leading ACU in points (332.5), kills (290), digs (264) and aces (29).
FIRST-YEAR IMPACT: Freshman Avery Thaler earned a spot on the WAC All-Freshman Team. In her first year, Thaler finished with 116.5 points, 89 kills, a .202 hitting percentage and 40.0 blocks.
GUFFY ON THE ASSIST: Senior Madeline Guffy has led the Wildcats offense with 699 assists so far this season. She also has a team second-best 26 aces and 230 digs, good for third-best on the team this season.
MONSTER BLOCK: Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Gonzalez has made her mark in her second season, her first as a starter. Gonzalez leads the team with a .234 hitting percentage and 72 blocks. She also has the second most kills on the team with 229.
CAREER-MILESTONE WATCH: Senior Bryley Steinhilber is eight digs away from reaching 900 digs for her career. She could reach the mark as soon as Thursday against UTA.
History with UT Arlington
- UTA leads the series, 8-4
- Current Streak: UTA, 2 wins
- Last ACU win: Oct. 12 2023, 3-2
- Last UTA win: Nov. 4 2024, 3-0
Scouting the Mavericks
- UTA finished the season 26-2 overall and 16-0 in conference play, earning them a WAC regular season championship.
- The Mavericks have the fifth-best record in all of Div. I sit at 15th in the country with their .279 hitting percentage and 14th in the nation with opponent hitting percentage, which sits at .155 percent.
- Brianna Ford, WAC Player of the Year, leads the team and conference with 421 kills and 503.5 points this season. Ford averages a .305 hitting percentage from the pins.
- Mollie Blank, WAC Setter of the Year, finished with 1,035 assists this year, good for second in the entire conference. Blank averages 10.67 assists per set, the highest average out of all setters in the WAC
2024 WAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday, Nov. 21 - Quarterfinal Round
Match 1: No. 6 Southern Utah vs. No. 3 Utah Valley - 10 a.m.
Match 2: No. 7 Seattle U vs. No. 2 Grand Canyon - 1 p.m.
Match 3: No. 5 California Baptist vs. No. 4 Utah Tech - 4 p.m.
Match 4: No. 8 Abilene Christian vs. No. 1 UT Arlington - 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 22 - Semifinal Round
Match 5: Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2 - 3 p.m.
Match 6: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 23 - Championship
Match 7: Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6 - 6 p.m.
#Unshakeable #GoWildcats
