After 28 ties and 11 lead changes, the University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks finally overcame an impressive effort by ACU.
The Wildcats fell to 0-7 on the season, as the Mavericks posted victories of 25-23, 26-24 and 25-21, en route to their sixth win of the season. Senior Jennie Loerch led the way offensively for ACU, posting 13 kills to lead all scorers for the second consecutive game. Freshman Kendall Bosse continued to emerge as a consistent weapon for the Wildcats, recording nine kills and two aces.
ACU held leads in all three sets including a 22-21 lead late in the first set and a 15-12 lead in the third set. The Wildcats also fended off a four-point deficit in the second game twice to bring the game even at 24-24, before losing the next two points. Junior middle blocker Lexi Mercier rounded out a balanced offensive attack for the Wildcats with eight kills and an impressive .444 hitting percentage.
The Achilles heel for the Wildcats this season continued to be errors as they finished with 20, 10 of which were service errors. However, despite the loss the Wildcats again proved they can play with the best, as UTA is coming off one of their best seasons in program history and are near the top of the Sun Belt Conference early on.
Assistant coach Ijeoma Moronu said the errors come with the territory of playing aggressive.
“We are never going to be mad at the girls for making aggressive errors but we will continuously work on staying aggressive while being smart within the situation,” Moronu said. “We don’t want to be a timid team.”
ACU continues its long early season road trip with its third visit to the Dallas Metroplex, where the Wildcats will take on Houston, North Texas and Boise State Sept. 11-12.
