ABILENE - Abilene Christian volleyball lifts the lid on its 2025 campaign by hosting the Wildcat Classic at Moody Coliseum across Friday and Saturday. ACU welcomes Missouri State, Incarnate Word and Oklahoma to the Big Country for a trio of matches to open its third season under head coach
Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup.
The Wildcats meet the Bears in their season-opener at 7 p.m. Friday before taking on the Cardinals and Sooners in a doubleheader on Saturday. ACU plays Incarnate Word at 10 a.m. before closing out the tournament with Oklahoma at 3 p.m. The Sooners are the first Southeastern Conference program, regardless of sport, to compete against the Wildcats in Abilene.
Each match can be streamed on ESPN+.
Friday's match with Missouri State doubles as both the program's Alumni Night and Fellowship of Christian Athletes Night. The Wildcats host Pancakes and PJ's in Saturday morning's bout with the Cardinals, while the matinee with the Sooners is a Purple Match.
ACU boasts a strong cast of nine returners from a 10-18 showing in 2024 that saw it build a 5-11 record in Western Athletic Conference play. It's a roster that will be forced to step up following the departure of several key contributors last season, including All-Western Athletic Conference Second Team honoree
Bryley Steinhilber, who paced the Wildcats in kills (295), digs (272) and service aces (29).
ACU will also be tasked with filling voids left by
Madeline Guffy, the team leader in assists (721), who combined with Steinhilber to start 53 matches. Other notable departures include
Sara Carrizales with 254 digs over 101 sets and
Nieko Thomas, who tallied 42.0 blocks.
Spearheading the Wildcats' attack is junior middle blocker
Hannah Gonzalez, one of three returners that appeared in all 28 matches last year. Gonzalez powered ACU with 73.0 blocks in 2024, 14 of which were of the solo variety. She was second on the team with 238 kills at a .248 clip and recorded 287.5 points, good for 2.88 per set.
Junior outside hitter
Alexis Strong and junior libero
Abby Christian joined Gonzalez in playing in each match in 2024. Strong finished third with 215 kills and 227.5 points to go with 20.0 rejections at the net. Christian landed in the top five in service aces (21) and digs (211).
Sophomore MB
Avery Thaler joined Steinhilber in garnering All-Conference accolades last season as she earned a spot on the WAC All-Freshman Team. The Fairfield, Texas product shined in her first year on campus, collecting 40.0 blocks with 90 kills and 117.5 points. Junior OH
Izabelle Larson also proved versatile with 115 kills, 104 digs and 13 aces for 137.5 points.
Multiple Wildcats find themselves in the program's Division I record books to begin the campaign. Gonzalez's 28 solo blocks are tied for third-most and are eight shy of matching Lauren Walker in second place, while senior OH
Ashli Edmiston's 1,830 attack attempts rank eighth and are 195 shy of tying Marybeth Sandercox in seventh.
Christian's 57 service aces are good for seventh as she's three away from meeting Carrizales in sixth place. Junior setter
Rachel Koss boasts the sixth-most assists with 357, 136 short of matching Sarah Nading.
Moronu Alstrup and the Wildcats welcomed six newcomers in the offseason, four of which were signed via the transfer portal. The quartet has combined for six years of Division I collegiate experience, led by senior S
Becca Siedenburg's three seasons at Gardner-Webb. She appeared in 61 matches for the Bulldogs, amassing 503 assists with 235 digs.
Junior OH
Aubrey Beaver made her way to Abilene after two seasons at Cal State Fullerton, where she built a freshman campaign to remember in 2023. The Murrieta, Calif. native collected 226 kills, 147 digs and 29 aces with 26.0 blocks and 269.5 points.
A relative late bloomer to the game of volleyball, redshirt sophomore MB
Erika Gustafson played just one year of competitive volleyball after being a gymnast since the age of 3. After redshirting her freshman year at Montana State, the Denton, Texas native notched 58 kills at a .248 hitting percentage with 37.0 blocks.
Redshirt freshman L
Brennan Ramirez rounds out ACU's crop of transfers following a freshman season in the SEC. She redshirted at Texas in 2024 as the Longhorns went 20-7 and reached NCAA Regionals.
The Wildcats signed a pair from the West Texas high school ranks in OH
Aliyah Jowers and
Hadlee Welch. Jowers is an Abilene product from Wylie High School, while Welch hails from Frenship High School in Lubbock. Welch comes from Wildcat roots, as her mother, the former Misti Germany, played volleyball at ACU, while her father, Duane, was a pitcher on the baseball team.
ACU has encountered Missouri State just once before, capturing a 3-0 sweep of the Bears on Sept. 3, 2022 in Columbia, Mo. The Bears are newcomers to Conference USA after posting a 13-19 record in their last of 33 seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference. They return three players that recorded 200.0 points or more in 2024, paced by sophomore OH Rilynn Finley with 390.5 points and 373 kills.
The Wildcats are an even 8-8 against the Cardinals since reaching the Division I level in 2013. Incarnate Word is coming off one of its top seasons in program history, going 17-11 with a 9-7 mark in the Southland Conference. It's good for the Cardinals' most overall wins and conference victories as a Division I program.
The Wildcats have met the Sooners twice before, being swept in 2021 and 2022. Oklahoma traveled to Moody Coliseum in the latter season as a then-member of the Big 12 Conference. It is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, fueled by senior pin hitter Alexis Shelton, a 2024 Third Team All-American.
