ABILENE — The Wildcats begin their Western Athletic Conference campaign on Thursday as they head to Utah for games against Utah Tech and Southern Utah.
First, the Wildcats head to St. George, Utah to take on the Utah Tech Trailblazers at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday. Then, ACU will make the one-hour drive northeast to Cedar City, Utah to play the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. The game against the Trailblazers on Thursday will be streamed on WAC International, while the Wildcats' match against the Thunderbirds will be streamed live on ESPN+.
ACU Storylines:
LAST WEEK IN MOODY: ACU played its first two games at home this past weekend for the Wildcat Classic. The Wildcats were named tournament champions, finishing the tournament 2-0. ACU first played Alabama A&M on Thursday, winning 3-0, and then took an exciting five-set thriller against Oral Roberts.
'CATS OF THE TOURNEY: Senior Bryley Steinhilber and sophomore Hannah Gonzalez went on to be named on the Wildcat Classic All-Tournament team. Steinhilber finished the tournament with 32 kills while hitting .353 percent and averaging four kills per set. She also added three aces and one block. Gonzalez finished the tournament with 23 kills while hitting .452 percent. She had a career-high 13 kills in the match against Oral Roberts and added four blocks, five digs and two aces across the whole tournament.
ENTER CONFERENCE PLAY: This week marks the start of Western Athletic Conference play. Currently, the 'Cats sit in fifth in the nine-team field. The entire conference looks up to UT Arlington, who currently sits in first with a 10-2 record. The top eight teams will qualify for the WAC tournament in November, which will take place in the College Park Center in Arlington.
COMING IN HOT: The Wildcats start conference play as one of the hottest teams, being on a three-game winning streak. Those wins include sweeps of Texas Southern and Alabama A&M plus a five-set match win against Oral Roberts.
COMEBACK 'CATS: The Wildcats have struggled with injuries throughout nonconference play, but two players hope to make an impact with conference play starting. First, junior Ashli Edmiston received full clearance last week after spending the past nine months recovering from an ACL tear. She made an impact in ACU's match against Oral Roberts, finishing with eight kills while hitting .333 percent. Also, expect sophomore setter Rachel Koss to start seeing action again after an ankle sprain in the Wildcats' opening match of the UTSA Invitational. Before the injury, Koss had 33 assists as well as five blocks and four kills.
SETTING OTHERS FOR SUCCESS: Senior Madeline Guffy has led the Wildcats' offense throughout the season, leading the team with 264 assists, while also being second in digs and aces with 91 digs and 10 aces on the season. Last week in Abilene, she finished with 80 assists, 19 digs and two service aces, good to earn her WAC Setter of the Week honors.
DIG A LITTLE DEEPER: Junior Sara Carrizales leads the Wildcats' backline with 109 digs on the season. She also leads ACU with 2.95 digs per set so far this season.
History with Utah Tech
- The Trailblazers lead the series, 2-1
- Current Streak: ACU, 1 win
- Last ACU win: Oct. 7 2023, 3-2
- Last UTU win: Oct. 8 2022, 3-0
Scouting the Trailblazers
- Utah Tech is fourth in the WAC with a 6-4 record so far this season. Some of their key wins include wins over Gonzaga and Middle Tennessee.
- Kennedi Knudsen leads her team with 145 kills and leads all pin hitters with a .241 hitting percentage. She also adds 74 digs and 15 blocks on the season.
- Taylor Snow and Casidy Fried lead the middle efforts for the Trailblazers. Snow has 62 kills while hitting .255 percent, the best among all hitters. Meanwhile, Fried leads the blocking efforts with 47 blocks this season while Snow follows suit with 40 blocks.
- Mya Laufiso leads the team's passing efforts with 132 digs and 3.33 digs per set, good for seventh best in the WAC.
History with Southern Utah
- The series between ACU and SUU is tied, 1-1
- Current Streak: ACU, 1 win
- Last ACU win: Oct. 5 2023, 3-0
- Last SUU win: Oct. 6 2022, 3-0
Scouting the Thunderbirds
- Southern Utah is currently 4-7, good for being seventh in the WAC. Key wins for the Thunderbirds include wins over Idaho, UC Riverside and Santa Clara.
- Andrea Spasojevic leads the Thunderbirds with 114 kills so far this season. She also averages a team-best 2.92 kills per set while hitting .202 percent. Spasojevic leads the team with 10 aces while adding 86 digs and 18 blocks, the second-best on the team.
- Carissa Richie leads the team's blocking with 43 blocks so far this season, averaging 1.08 per set. She also adds 58 kills while hitting .254 so far this season.
- Arianna Rossi leads SUU's passing with 124 digs so far this season while averaging 3.44 digs per set. She also averages a .975 reception percentage.
#Unshakeable #GoWildcats
