The Wildcat volleyball team was able to snub out one win in two Lone Star Conference games Thursday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 8.
Thursday, the ‘Cats faced off against Midwestern State University at Wichita Falls and were defeated in straight sets (26-24, 25-17, and 25-15). The Mustangs improved to 12-6 and 4-5 in the LSC after the win.
Head coach Kellen Mock said the girls didn’t play to their potential at Wichita Falls.
“MSU was another opportunity for us to get off the bus and play well at another team’s venue. Midwestern wasn’t a good match for us. We lost our momentum in the first set and never really redeemed it. It was another match where we should have taken control on our side of the court but didn’t.”
Freshman Sara Oxford agreed with Mock.
“We weren’t all their as a team, which I believe was the main reason the Mustangs beat us in three sets. We made silly mistakes.”
Shelbi Stewart for MSU lead all players with 13 kills and had a .478 hitting percentage. Senior Jennie Hutt had nine kills, while Oxford was not far behind with eight. Hutt attained 12 digs compared to team leader Kelsie Edwards with 14.
ACU had several opportunities to take the first set of the match including one point at 24-22. The Wildcats couldn’t capitalize however, and dropped four consecutive points. MSU kills from Stewart, Miranda Byrd, and Brandi Flores were key but an unforced error gave the Mustangs match point.
The ‘Cats made 14 costly errors in the match and hit .133. MSU had a hitting percentage of .258.
The second set, the Wildcats hung close to the Mustangs through the first 18 points. MSU then broke it open with an 11-3 run. Hutt and Caley Johnson both recorded errors helping Midwestern State win the set.
MSU had two big leads in the third set (6-1 and 10-3). Nearly half of the Mustang points were the result of errors by ACU. A 10-6 score was as close as the Wildcats came to tying the third.
The conference game on Saturday pitted ACU against Cameron University. The ‘Cats came away with the victory 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 19-25, 25-18).
The Wildcats improved to 11-10 and 5-4 in the conference and took sole position of fourth place. The Aggies fell to 10-8 and 4-6 in the LSC.
Mock was more pleased with the girls on Saturday.
“With the exception of the third game, the girls were in much better control versus Cameron. They had more error control so I was happy.”
The team turned their play around according to Oxford.
“We came out and played our best and definitely showed a complete turnaround from Thursday night’s match.”
ACU statistically, had no standout players on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. Setter Haley Rhoads did achieve 43 of the team’s 47 assists but four Wildcats had 10 or more kills, five had at least two blocks, and four had seven or more digs.
Mock said Haley is doing a great job of distributing the ball to her teammates.
“Haley is starting to understand what is expected of her at this level. We had four people with over 10 kills versus Cameron. That’s a good thing for the setter to be moving the ball that well.”
The ‘Cats improved its hitting percentage from the MSU game by striking a .277. Cameron recorded errors left and right achieving a shocking 29, which lowered its hitting percentage to .178. 17 of the Aggies’ errors came in the second and fourth sets.
ACU maintained an early lead in the first set however, Cameron would find a way to crawl back at 13-13 and again at 18-18. The Wildcats would finish off the set on a 7-2 run.
The second set was similar to the first in that the ‘Cats watched its lead disappear. The team recovered just in time to claim the victory. Neely Borger claimed the match with one of her three aces.
Hutt ended the Cameron match-up with eight kills. Borger had 12 kills along with six blocks.
