ST. GEORGE, Utah - Abilene Christian volleyball begins the second half of Western Athletic Conference play in Utah with matchups against Utah Tech and Southern Utah this week.
The Wildcats meet the Trailblazers at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah at 7 p.m. Thursday before visiting the Thunderbirds at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Both programs are familiar foes for ACU after it hosted them at Moody Coliseum two weeks ago. The Wildcats pulled off a reverse sweep for a 3-2 win over Southern Utah on Oct. 9 before a 3-0 loss at the hands of Utah Tech on Oct. 11.
ACU is on the road for the first time since an Oct. 4 matchup at UT Arlington and leaves the state of Texas for the first time in nearly a month. The Wildcats last played at California Baptist on Sept. 27.Â
ACU's 3-1 win over the Mavericks remains its only true road victory of the season. To pick up more, it must accomplish a first in program history, having never won a match in the state of Utah. Further, each contest at the homes of Utah Tech, Southern Utah and Utah Valley has ended in a sweep.
In their last time out, the Wildcats fell in five sets to Tarleton State at Moody Coliseum on Oct. 18. Freshman
Hadlee Welch powered ACU with a career performance, tallying 17 kills at a .314 clip with four block assists and five digs.
Hannah Gonzalez added 10 kills and two solo blocks, while
Avery Thaler collected a career-best seven blocks.
A win over conference frontrunner Utah Tech would mark ACU's second Division I win versus the Trailblazers and the first since 2023. When the teams met in Abilene,
Ashli Edmiston and Gonzalez recorded nine kills apiece while
Alexis Strong and
Courtney Church combined for 13.
The Wildcats rank second in the WAC in kills (12.78), assists (11.69) and service aces (1.79) per set and will take on a Utah Tech squad that leads the conference in a number of statistics. The Trailblazers top the WAC in hitting percentage (.226) and opposing hitting percentage (.155), as well as kills (13.31), assists (12.05) and digs (14.48) per set.
Three Trailblazers rank within the conference's top 10 in hitting percentage, headed by Casidy Fried at .349, in addition to three that land in the top 10 for blocks per set. Taylor Snow is ranked for hitting percentage, blocks and points per set.
Utah Tech has won six of its last seven matches, but is coming off its first WAC loss of the season in a 3-1 defeat by UT Arlington.
ACU has won three of its last four matches versus Southern Utah, with each victory taking place in Abilene.
Ashli Edmiston fueled the Wildcats with 17 kills in the teams' previous matchup, with
Annaleise Sevier tallying 10 kills.
Edmiston is third in the WAC with 3.08 kills per set in conference action, while her 3.40 points per set rank fourth.
Rachel Koss is second in assists per set (6.67) and fifth in aces (0.38). Church's .294 hitting percentage is good for fifth.
Southern Utah has lost eight of its last nine matches and sits at the bottom of the conference. Aleeya Jones is tied for the most aces per set in WAC play with 0.50.
