LAS CRUCES, N.M. — ACU finished its appearance at the Borderland Invitational on a high note, sweeping the Texas Southern Tigers.
The Wildcats took the win 25-18 in the first set, 25-19 in the second set and 25-19 in the third set.
"Throughout the season our goal has been to continue taking steps forward, and I can proudly say we did that in our match versus Texas Southern," head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said. "It was a match that the entire team contributed in and we were able to get a lot of our freshmen involved in the match."
In the first set, the Wildcats went on a 7-2 run to help take control of the first set. The team had 13 kills while hitting .188 percent while holding the Tigers to eight kills and hitting -.063 percent.
The second set was tightly contested throughout, but the Wildcats went on a 6-1 run to end the set to take the 25-19 set win. ACU had their best hitting percentage hitting .219 in the second set.
In the final set, Texas Southern got out to an early lead 7-3, but then ACU went on a 7-1 to take the lead. The set was still tightly contested, but the Wildcats went on a 4-0 run to separate from the Tigers and allow them to take the match in three sets. ACU also had a match-best 16 kills in the match and held Texas Southern to a -.144 hitting percentage on the clinching set.
ACU finished the match with a total of 43 kills all while hitting .178 percent. The team also added 43 digs, 39 assists, six blocks and two aces.
The Wildcats ran their offense through their middles, primarily led by sophomore Hannah Gonzalez. She finished the afternoon with a career-high 12 kills and led the team with four blocks. Gonzalez also earned 14.0 points, also a career-high. Freshman Avery Thaler finished the match with a career-high nine kills and 10.0 points.
"Hannah was awarded the match MVP award from the team, she had a great offensive match and had a lot of good touches on the defensive side of the ball as well," Moronu Alstrup said. " Avery did a great job this weekend stepping into the second middle role after an injury occurred earlier in the week. Avery got better throughout the weekend and played a solid last match also receiving MVP votes."
Senior setter Madeline Guffy finished the match with 34 assists while also having the team's two aces. Junior libero Sara Carrizales led the way with 12 digs, with Guffy adding 10 digs and senior Bryley Steinhilber had seven digs.
Up next, the Wildcats will play their first two games inside Moody Coliseum this season at the annual Wildcat Classic. First, the Wildcats will play Alabama A&M on Thursday, September 19 at 7 p.m. CT, then will play Oral Roberts on Friday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. CT.
"After so many weeks on the road, we can finally turn our attention to our home matches," Moronu Alstrup said. "We cannot wait to play inside of a packed Moody Coliseum at the Wildcats Classic on September 19."
You can watch both games of the Wildcat Classic on ESPN+, or you can keep track of the "Cats on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook and acusports.com.
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