Abilene Christian volleyball delivered a stellar defensive performance in a 3-0 rout of Northwestern State at Moody Coliseum on Wednesday night.
With a 25-9 victory in the opening set, the Wildcats marked their second-fewest points allowed in a set in their Division I era and fewest since 2013. ACU outscored Louisiana Tech, 25-6, in the first set of a 3-2 win on Aug. 31, 2013.
The Wildcats committed just four attack errors in the match and hit at a .405 percentage compared to the Lady Demons' -.012. Sophomore
Annaleise Sevier led ACU in kills for the first time in her career, collecting nine kills at .692 to power the Wildcats' offense.
Redshirt freshman
Courtney Church added a career-best eight kills at .500, while junior
Aubrey Beaver recorded seven kills and a team-high seven digs. She leads ACU with 45 kills through four matches. Beaver and juniors
Izabelle Larson and
Abby Christian each registered a trio of service aces.
Redshirt sophomore
Erika Gustafson tallied a career-high three solo blocks, and junior
Rachel Koss charted 26 assists.
Elsie Sanchez Oliver notched eight kills to fuel Northwestern State, while Jade Longlad added four aces and 10 assists.
ACU wasted little time in building its lead, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the game. The Wildcats capitalized on their momentum with a series of runs, recording rallies of 9-1 and 11-1 en route to the 25-9 victory. Sevier picked up five kills in the set, doing so at a .714 clip. Junior
Hannah Gonzalez and Koss registered three block assists each.
The Lady Demons began the second set with three consecutive service aces, but the Wildcats responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead for good. In what proved to be a more closely-contested period, Beaver and Sanchez Oliver each contributed five kills for their respective teams. Gonzalez capped ACU's 25-20 win with a solo block.
The Wildcats closed out their victory with a 25-15 win in the third set, scoring nine of the last 11 points. Church and Gonzalez tallied three kills apiece behind 10 assists from Koss.
ACU hits the road to compete in the SFA Volleyball Invitational at Shelton Gym in Nacogdoches, Texas on Friday and Saturday. The Wildcats meet Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin in a Friday doubleheader, with the matches beginning at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
