By Michael Freeman, Assistant Sports Editor
The Wildcat volleyball team picked up a victory before losing three straight matches to top 25 teams last weekend at the Washburn University Lady Blues Fall Classic.
However, in the three losses, ACU didn’t go quietly. Nevertheless, the Wildcats now own an 8-11 overall record with a 3-2 conference record.
“I think this weekend was successful in some ways,” head coach Kellen Mock said. “When you look at the winloss columns, it was not a success. But this was one of the toughest tournaments ACU has ever been to.”
ACU’s first match was against Missouri Western on Friday. Four Wildcats finished the game with doubledigit kills as ACU dropped Missouri Western by the count of 30-23, 31-29, 30-32, 30-22. Senior outside hitter Abbie Lowry led the Wildcats with 23 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Krystine
Cethoute had 16 kills, junior middle blocker Lauren Leone finished with 13 kills and sophomore outside hitter Erin Curry completed the game with a double-double of 10 kills and 13 digs.
“One thing I was really proud of was that we took care of the game against Missouri Western,” Mock said. “The girls saw the opportunity to take a win and really took care of business.”
ACU ended the game with a team hitting-percentage of .279, but the Wildcats’ hitting went downhill in the second match and hit a flat .000 against Washburn. No. 5 Washburn downed ACU 30-19, 30-22, 30-20. Lowry was the only Wildcat with double-digit kills as she finished with 13.
“Personally, I believe Washburn was the best team we’ve seen all year,” Mock said. “Washburn was an extremely well-balanced team; lots of players that could put the ball away, some of the best ball control I’ve seen all year.”
The Wildcats bounced back on Saturday against No. 6 Truman State. ACU gave Truman State a run for its money, but in the end fell 30-20, 18- 30, 30-23, 31-29. Lowry led ACU 23 kills, while Curry and sophomore middle blocker Michelle Bacon contributed each with 10 kills.
Curry had 10 digs to give her a double-double. Sophomore
defensive specialist Amy Wilson and senior libero Liz Snoddy also finished with a double-digit dig count, each with 13 digs. Moronu also stepped up with 51 assists.
ACU’s final match of the weekend against No. 23 Emporia State also ended in four games. However, the Wildcats lost the match 26-30, 30-14, 30-25, 30-24.
Bacon led the Wildcats with 16 kills on a .255 hitting percentage. And freshman middle blocker Shawna Hines led all players with 5.5 total blocks.
“I feel like we had a great chance at beating Truman and Emporia this weekend,” Mock said.
At the end of the Lady Blues Classic, Lowry was honored as the Lone Star Conference Co- Offensive Player of the Week in addition to being named to the all-tournament team. After the weekend, Lowry now has 1,347 career kills, which is sixth on ACU’s all-time list. She needs just 98 more kills to move past Misti Germany.
Lowry will get a chance to add to her kill count this Thursday as ACU resumes Lone Star Conference play by hosting Angelo State at Moody Coliseum. The match starts at 7 p.m.
