A young Wildcat squad proved they can hang with the best teams in the Lone Star Conference this past weekend.
The volleyball team opened up Lone Star Conference play with a win and a loss last Friday and Saturday.
The Wildcats played No. 7 West Texas A&M University on Friday and were searching for their first win against the Lady Buffs since 2005.
The ‘Cats gave WTAMU everything they could handle but lost in three tight sets, 25-23, 25-23, 25-21.
The team then traveled to New Mexico for Saturday’s match against Eastern New Mexico University.
It was also a close contest but one in which ACU came out on top, 3-2 (25-13, 15-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-13).
The win snapped a three-match losing skid for the Wildcats and improved their record to 4-6 (1-1 LSC).
The ‘Cats had a late rally in both games one and two in the West Texas match, however, it was not enough and the team fell in their their eighth straight decision to the Lady Buffs.
ACU’s best opportunity to take over the match came in the first set when they led 21-19.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats could only get two of the next eight points. Last season, the team went into Canyon and lost by scores of 25-16, 25-5 and 25-11.
West Texas and ACU fought through 10 ties in the first game alone and neither side led by more than three points in the set.
ACU used two 5-2 runs to grab seperate leads in game one. The Lady Buffs countered with their own runs each time though.
Freshman Corrie Reeder started a comeback in the first set when she smacked a kill, making her
match total seven kills.
A couple of plays later, Oxford and Allen combined for a block then Oxford got a kill of her own.
Reeder scored another point to bring the cats within two in the first set and WT did not help themselves when they committed four errors over six points.
Freshman setter Sarah Siemens had 27 assists in the match and libero Madison Hoover led the team in digs with 12.
The ‘Cats cruised to a 25-13 victory in game one against the Zias of Eastern New Mexico.
ENMU responded with the same kind of beating in the second set (15-25).
The final three games of the Eastern match were much closer.
ACU led for most of the deciding fifth set, but the Zias rallied off four straight points to tie it at 11-11. Senior Kalynne Allen recorded a service ace and Reeder whacked a kill to jump the Wildcats back ahead 13-11.
Middle blocker Sara Oxford ended the match off an assist from Siemens.
Oxford recorded 18 kills in the win and Siemens put up a career-high 56 assists.
Reeder and freshman outside hitter Jennie Loerch were five kills behind Oxford with 13 each.
Hoover was the leader on defense with 30 digs.
The Wildcats begin their first homestand of the season this weekend when they host Tarleton State University on Friday at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the team faces Angelo State University at 2 p.m.
The three-match homestand ends with a 7 p.m. contest against Texas Women’s University on Tuesday.
