By Brian Roe, Sports Writer

The ACU bus left Wednesday afternoon as the Wildcat volleyball team took its 1-3 record to Pueblo, Colo., to compete in its second tournament in as many weeks.

The team will attempt to rebound from its disappointing outcome in Kansas City, Mo., last weekend.

“We had a frustrating weekend with close matches, especially against Drury, that we didn’t capitalize on, but I think we are more mentally prepared this week,” said Brek Horn, volleyball head coach.

The team began play Friday morning at 10 a.m. against Western State and will play Colorado-Colorado Springs at 4 p.m. Friday.

On Saturday, ACU will match up against Colorado School of Mines at 10 a.m. and finish the tournament against host team Colorado State-Pueblo at 2 p.m.

“Regional competition is the main focus of our season, but these matches will prepare us for the conference matches later on,” assistant coach Nora Oglesby said.

The team spent this week practicing from 3 to 5 p.m. working on various aspects of the game. Drills are vital to a team’s success, but Horn said the mental aspect of the game is the most important.

“This week we worked on middle blockers closing the block and making a better transition from defense into offense,” Horn said. “I think we lost the close matches last week because we weren’t mentally focused. We worked on pushing ourselves both physically and mentally in practice this week and I think that will show on the court this weekend.”

The team will play its first two home matches Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum against Midwestern State and Friday at 7 p.m. against Texas Women’s University.