The Wildcats had two errors at the end of their match Tuesday night which cost them a tough five-set loss to Dallas Baptist University.
The squad was defeated in Moody Coliseum, 3-2 (21-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 18-16). The loss dropped them to 7-12 on the year and 3-6 in the Lone Star Conference.
“We made a couple of careless errors at the wrong time,” freshman Sarah Siemens said. “We definitely out played them. The errors were just a bit too much.”
In the fifth set, ACU led the Patriots 9-6, but DBU had an 8-3 run that led to match point. The Wildcats kept fighting and tied the score at 14-14 and 16-16 however, a service error by Siemens followed by an attack error by sophomore Rachel Riley put a stopper on the match.
“Unfortunately last night didn’t go our way, but it was a hard fought match,” head coach Kellen Mock said. “Statistically it was one of our best matches all season. There is definitely positives we can find in every game.”
Riley had a career and team season high of 20 kills, unfortunately, her error was one of 36 for the team. Dallas Baptist committed 17 errors during the match.
Riley was not the only ‘Cat with a big game. Siemens recorded a career-high 63 assists. She also had six kills, eight digs and two blocks.
On the defensive end, the team put together seven blocks. Freshman Corrie Reeder had two of those. Libero Madison Hoover had the sixth-highest single match dig total in ACU history (36). Angie Palmer is the school record holder in digs with 39 which was set in 1995.
Every set in the match was a back-and-forth battle between the two clubs. Set one alone had nine ties and three lead changes. Riley and Jennie Loerch each smashed six kills during the opening set.
The Patriots held a seven point lead early in game two and maintained a lead until the very end. The Wildcats had a 5-0 run to close the gap to 21-19, but that was as close as they would get as DBU scored four of the final five points.
ACU had five players with 10 or more kills in the match including Reeder, Riley, Loerch, senior Kalynne Allen and sophomore Sara Oxford.
The ‘Cats jump back into conference play this weekend with matches on Friday and Saturday against Eastern New Mexico University and West Texas A&M University, both are in Moody. They face Eastern on Friday at 7 p.m. and WTAMU at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
“We’re going to get pushed this weekend,” Mock said. “Seeing a good team like Dallas Baptist who never got down and kept coming after us really prepares us for the rest of our conference schedule.”
