It is nice to have a lot of options. This year’s Wildcat volleyball team has that luxury.
ACU went 4-0 last weekend in Austin behind the stellar play of Kalynne Allen at the St. Edwards Invitational tournament. Allen finished the tournament with 39 kills, 41 digs, 8 blocks and a .304 hitting percentage on her way grabbing all-Tournament MVP honors.
“It was a good tourney for us,” said Allen. “We really clicked as a team.”
Ijeoma Moronu also made the all-Tournament team with 149 assists in 4 games and helped out the cause on defense with 51 digs.
The Wildcats got their weekend off to the right start by posting a pair of wins against Northwest Missouri State and Dallas Baptist. In the game against NMSU, the Wildcats dominated the first and fourth set with over .400 hitting percentages that the Bearcats couldn’t match.
After pulling out a 3-1 win in match one the ‘Cats went back to work and quickly took care of Dallas Baptist 3-0. The last set saw the Wildcats trailing 20-19 but ACU took six of the last eight points to finish the shutout.
Day two featured more of the same from the Wildcats. Two more wins at the hands of Missouri Southern State and host St. Edwards pushed ACU’s overall record to 6-2 on the season.
“This weekend was a good foundation to start the season with,” Allen said. “It shows that we have ironed out a few flaws and have taken it to the next level.”
Missouri Southern wasn’t a threat as the Wildcats dominated them on both the offensive and defensive sides of the net hitting .200 for the match while holding them to under .200 in all three sets.
Host team St. Edwards only slightly delayed the Wildcats unbeaten weekend by winning the third game of their match, but a nine point win in game four sealed the victory.
“Our team performed at a very high level and we had several people, Kalynne, Shawna, Jordan, have big games,” said senior Jennie Hutt. “It’s great having a different kill leader every game because it shows how diverse our team is.”
Although she didn’t earn all-Tournament honors Shawna Hines was up to her usual standards posting a .429 hitting percentage her second day and hit .389 overall for the weekend to lead the Wildcats. Hines also had 18 blocks in the tournament. Freshman Neely Borger also had a hand in the block party putting up seven in her final game.
The Wildcats will ride a five game win streak into conference play Wednesday when they face Angelo State on the road.
