WACO — ACU finished the Baylor Classic 1-2 after falling in their final match of the weekend to Tulsa, 3-0.
"Going into the weekend, we knew it would be tough going against three teams ranked higher than us," head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. "Although there were moments we could have performed at a higher level, it was a great opening weekend that showed a lot of growth and promise for the future."
The Wildcats fell in straight sets to the Golden Hurrican, 20-25, 17-25 and 21-25.
In the match, ACU finished with 29 kills, seven blocks and four aces. Ultimately, the Wildcats' downfall was unforced errors, with the team having 26 hitting errors and seven service errors. Meanwhile, the Golden Hurricane had 39 kills while hitting .209 percent with only 16 hitting errors.
Sophomore Izabelle Larson led ACU's hitting efforts with 10 kills and the team's passing efforts with 10 digs, making this match the second straight match that Larson finished with double-digit kills and digs.
Hannah Gonzalez finished the match with six kills and was one of two Wildcats who led the match with four blocks. The other Wildcat with four blocks was freshman Avery Thaler. In her first match in her collegiate career, she also added three kills while hitting .143 percent.
Sophomore Rachel Koss led the setting efforts for the 'Cats with 14 assists while Madeline Guffy followed closely behind her with 10 assists.
Up next, the Wildcats will head to San Antonio for the UTSA Invitational on September 6-7. While in the Alamo City, they will take on old Southland Conference rival Incarnate Word, Conference USA opponent and host UTSA and for the first time in program history, Holy Cross from the Patriot League.
"We had a lot of younger players play big roles throughout the weekend contributing well at different times," Moronu Alstrup said. "We're excited to continue our preseason campaign and continue to prepare for WAC conference play."
You can follow the Wildcats' upcoming matches in the Alamo City on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com.
