STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State employed a balanced attack and capitalized on a tough outing for the ACU offense on Saturday to end the Wildcats' three-match winning streak with a 3-0 victory over ACU in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match at Wisdom Gym.
Tarleton took the first game, 25-16, before winning the second game 25-22 to go up 2-0 in the match. In the second game, ACU led 22-19, but a service error brought the Texans within 22-20. The Texans then finished the game with the serve, scoring the final six points to win 25-22.
Tarleton then scored the first seven points of the third game, followed by five straight points after ACU had closed to within 8-6, pushing its lead to 13-6. The Wildcats never got closer than five points for the rest of the match as Tarleton won the third game, 25-19.
The win improves the Texans to 14-8 overall and 8-2 in the WAC, while the Wildcats drop to 11-15 and 4-6. ACU had won three straight matches before Saturday's game, but too many unforced errors proved to be their undoing.
The Wildcats finished the match with 29 attack errors, six service errors, and five receiving errors, and had a negative .009 hitting percentage (28 kills and 29 attack errors).
Ashli Edmiston led the Wildcats with seven kills and three blocks, while
Courtney Church and
Hannah Gonzalez each had five kills. Laneah Lara spearheaded a balanced Tarleton State offense with nine kills, followed by Madison Frank with eight, and Breannah Peterson and Emma Burke with five kills each.
The Wildcats finish the regular season with two home matches: Thursday, Nov. 13, against California Baptist on First Responders / Military Appreciation Night at 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 15, against Utah Valley on She Can Be / Senior Day at 1 p.m. ACU will then host the WAC Tournament, Nov. 20-22, in Moody Coliseum.
