WACO — ACU opened the 2024 season with a challenge on the road against the No. 23 ranked Baylor Bears, ultimately falling to the Bears in straight sets.
"We knew that starting the season off against No. 23 ranked Baylor would be a challenge," head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. "But I feel the team happily accepted that challenge. We saw moments of some very high-level volleyball from both sides and many individuals stepped up in big ways."
In the match against the Bears, ACU lost in straight sets 11-25, 17-25 and 14-25.
ACU finished the match with 28 kills while hitting .065 percent compared to Baylor's 37 kills and .372 hitting percentage. The Wildcats were out-blocked by the Bears, with the 'Cats finishing with 3.0 blocks and the Bears with 10.0 blocks. ACU closed the margin defensively with 26 digs compared to Baylor's 31.
Leading the Wildcats offensively was sophomore Izabelle Larson, who finished the game with eight kills. Senior Bryley Steinhilber added seven kills and sophomore Hannah Gonzalez added five from the middle. Redshirt junior Nieko Thomas had the best hitting percentage in the matchup at .333 while adding four kills on nine attempts.
Senior setter Madeline Guffy finished the game with 20 assists while also leading the Wildcats defensively with six digs. Junior libero Sara Carrizales and Larson followed closely behind with five digs apiece.
"Izzy Larson was voted MVP of the match by the team with Abby Christian, and Guffy receiving votes as well," Moronu Alstrup said. "Both middles contributed well offensively and senior Madeline Guffy did a great job running the show offensively. We showed a lot of growth in every aspect from last weekend most notably in our block organization."
The Wildcats will look to earn their first win of the season at 5 p.m. Friday against Campbell. You can follow the Wildcats' match against the Fighting Camels on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com. They will later compete against Tulsa on Sunday.
"We are looking forward to competing for two more matches on the weekend," Moronu Alstrup said. "They are both high-level teams and we are looking forward to seeing what we can do."
