ABILENE — After months of preseason preparation, Abilene Christian's volleyball program begins the 2024 campaign on Friday. The Wildcats hope to continue to build in Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup's second season as head coach and to make their second straight Western Athletic Conference tournament in late November.
Recap of the 2023 Season
Though Coach Moronu Alstrup only arrived in the Big Country in July 2023, she was able to lead the Wildcats to its best season since the program joined the WAC in 2021.
The Wildcats finished the season with 11 wins, six of them in conference play. Moronu Alstrup earned a signature win in her first season in a 3-1 stunner against Texas Tech inside of Moody Coliseum. The win was ACU's first win against the Red Raiders since 2013, the program's first year at the Div. I level.
ACU went on to make its first WAC tournament appearance since 2021. The program ultimately fell to WAC regular-season champion and ultimate NCAA tournament qualifier Stephen F. Austin in the opening round in a four-set battle.
Key Returners
ACU will see nine players from the 2023 roster returning for the 2024 campaign. Among the returners were three key pieces of ACU offense last season.
Senior Bryley Steinhilber and junior Ashli Edmiston both return to play outside for the Wildcats, with the two of them holding the top two spots in most kills and points in the 2023 season. Senior setter Madeline Guffy also returns after leading the Wildcats with 916 assists. Junior libero Sara Carrizales rounds out the returning upperclassmen, who led the Wildcats' defensive efforts last season with 400 digs.
Rounding out the returners are five freshmen turned sophomores. Abby Christian, Hannah Gonzalez, Rachel Koss, Izabelle Larson and Alexis Strong all return for a sophomore campaign after serving as key role players in the starting lineup and off the bench in their first years.
"Ashli, Bryley, and Guffy were great contributors for us last year and I expect them to have the same impact on the team this year," Moronu Alstrup said, "but all 9 returners put in a lot of groundwork in the spring that will lay the foundation of the program for years to come. They've already done a great job integrating the new players into the team, and now I'm excited to see them set the standard in the gym of how we want to play ACU volleyball."
Fresh Faces from New Places
Alongside the nine returners, the Wildcats added eight new players hoping to make a significant impact on the roster.
Two of ACU's newcomers are transfers, both being middle blockers, adding size and middle blocker experience to ACU's roster. These transfers include redshirt junior and California native Nieko Thomas from California State-Northridge (CSUN) and redshirt sophomore and Ohio native Sasha Stotler from Rutgers.
The rest of the newcomers include six freshmen from all over the state of Texas. Three of the six freshmen our outside hitters, which includes Courtney Church from Driftwood, Paige Jones from Odessa and Annaleise Sevier from Aubrey. Other freshmen include middle blocker Avery Thaler from Fairfield, defensive specialist Delanna Harper from McKinney and setter Sydney Payne from Argyle.
"You can expect to see a lot of new faces on the court this season," said Moronu Alstrup. We have 3 new middles coming into the program, Avery Thaler, Big 10 Transfer Sasha Stotler, and Nieko Thomas will challenge sophomore Hannah Gonzalez well and will compete for playing time either in the middle or potentially on the right side. Our freshman class is very well-rounded, so there is a good chance that their class will make an impact on the court if not in one but potentially more positions on the court."
Be the Best, Play the Best
The 2024 season marks one of the most challenging non-conference schedule the Wildcats have seen in their Div. I era. The purpose according to coach Moronu Alstrup, is to be the best, you have to play the best.
"My ambitions for this program far exceed the WAC conference, so if we want to be the best why wait to play them," Moronu Alstrup said. "We open up the season against Baylor and will play Tulsa and Campbell the first weekend, other notable matches will include UTSA, New Mexico State, and the University of Arizona. My focus for the team is to always play good volleyball, and if we can play good volleyball against high-quality opponents, we put ourselves in the position to win which is of course what we want to do."
The season for the Wildcats begins at the Baylor Classic, with an August 30 matchups against Baylor and Campbell. The team wraps up its time in Waco with a game on September 1 against Tulsa.
Next, ACU heads to the Alamo City for the UTSA Invitational. The tournament in San Antonio includes two matches on Sept. 6 against Incarnate Word and UTSA, and a match against Holy Cross on Sept. 7.
Then the Wildcats head to their third tournament of the season Sept. 13-14 for the Borderland Invitational. These include the matches against Arizona and New Mexico State, as well as a match against Texas Southern.
Finally, to end the non-conference slate, the program will play its first games in Moody Coliseum against Alabama A&M on Sept. 19 and against Oral Roberts on Sept. 20.
The Road to Arlington
The Wildcats will aim to make the WAC tournament for the second straight season. This year, the tournament will be a little closer to home, with games being played at the College Park Center in Arlington. But first, the Wildcats have to go through conference play.
The Wildcats are currently projected to finish sixth in the nine-team pool of WAC teams according to the preseason coaches poll. The overall favorite is Grand Canyon, last year's WAC tournament champion.
WAC play begins on Sept. 26 and 28 as the 'Cats head to Utah for games against Utah Tech and Southern Utah. The Wildcats begin conference play at home on October 3 and 5 against California Baptist and Seattle U.
In the WAC's round-robin play format, the program will play the other programs twice, once at home and once on the road. That includes matches against Tarleton State (Oct. 10 on the road and Oct. 28 at home), UT Arlington (Oct. 12 at home and November 4 on the road), Utah Valley (Oct. 17 in Orem and Nov. 7 in Abilene), Grand Canyon (Oct. 31 and Nov. 14) and second matches at Seattle U (Oct. 19) and against Utah Tech (Oct. 24)
The final game at home for the Wildcats will take place Nov. 9 against Southern Utah, while the regular season finale will be on the road against California Baptist on Nov. 16.
The WAC tournament in Arlington will begin on November 21 and run through Nov. 23.
To stay up to date with ACU Volleyball and their journey to Arlington, follow them on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com.
