The ACU volleyball team fought hard through five sets against the University of the Incarnate Word Saturday, but was defeated 3-2.
This dropped the Wildcats’ conference record to 2-10 and their overall record to 4-22.
“We really wanted to beat Incarnate Word because we came so close to beating them the last time we matched up with them,” said Rachel Riley, junior right side hitter from Flower Mound. “We really showed how much we wanted to win in sets three and four. We just needed to be ready to go from the start of the first set.”
Sets three and four ended with small leads of two and three point victories for ACU.
Jennifer Loerch, outside hitter from Georgetown, outperformed her opponents with 14 kills in game three which was enough to take the win. The set ended in a Wildcat victory of 23-25.
“We have four games left, and luckily, they are all at home,” Riley said. “This will be a great opportunity for us to showcase how hard we have worked and really pull out a couple big wins to leave our program in a good place to start off spring and even into next season.”
The Wildcats had 55 kills, 63 points and no aces in the match, while the Cardinals totaled 72 kills, 84 points and seven aces.
ACU will take the court again Thursday in Moody Coliseum to face McNeese State. McNeese is currently 4-8 in conference and 0-4 in away games. Their overall record for the season is at an even 14-14.
“For these last couple of games, my motivation is to end our season on the best note possible,” said Brooke Ray, sophomore defensive specialist from Lucas. “I want to look back and see we gave it all we had, and if we try our hardest and that doesn’t equal a win, then I would be okay with that. Of course winning would be ideal, but I think we would all be OK with hard work.”
