The ACU Volleyball team will face the University of Incarnate Word at 2 p.m. Saturday in Moody Colesium.
The Wildcats will enter this game 2-9 in conference coming off of back-to-back losses against the University of Louisiana Lafayette and Nicholls State University. The Cardinals enter the match 3-8 in conference after defeating New Orleans last Saturday.
ACU fell to Lafayette in four sets (24-26, 25-16, 25-23 and 25-12) Monday night.
The Wildcats received a solid game from Jennie Loerch, junior outside hitter from Georgetown, who recorded 17 kills and two blocks for the night.
Sarah Siemens, junior setter from Bakersfield, California, played a strong game as well with 11 assists, three kills and one set-winning block to claim the victory for set one.
Ultimately, ACU was unable to feed off their momentum after winning the first set which would be their only win for the night.
“We lost because everyone wasn’t on their ‘A’ game,” said Brooke Ray, sophomore defensive specialist from Lucas. “Volleyball is such a mental sport, and it takes every single one of us to be on to play good, and that just didn’t happen.”
The Wildcats sent the game against Nicholls State into five sets (25-16, 20-25, 25-20, 22-25 and 15-11).
Despite hitting a match high of .368 in set five, the Wildcats were still outhit by the host Colonels who hit a .467.
Dorothy Swanson, sophomore outside hitter from White Oak, led the Wildcats’ offense with 15 kills on 37 attempts.
Neely Borger, redshirt senior middle blocker from Amarillo, tied Corinne Grandcolas, freshman outside hitter from Austin, with five blocks. Erica Lambert, sophomore outside hitter from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Siemens both had four block assists for ACU’s defense as well.
After an exciting 8-2 run win for the fourth set, the Wildcats were eventually shut down in the fifth set as the Colonels claimed victory for the night.
“We didn’t finish when we could, and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had to win the game,” Siemens said.
The Wildcats now focus their attention to Incarnate Word. This will be the second time the teams face off this season.
Incarnate Word defeated the Wildcats in five sets in their last game (20-25, 26-24, 26-24, 14-25 and 15-8). The Cardinals look to do the same to keep up their winning streak.
“Going into this weekend against Incarnate Word, I expect us to win,” Ray said “I expect us to come out with everyone in the same mindset and just to play a fun, aggressive game.”
