The Wildcats began the month of October with a historical 4-1 home stand which helped them to as high as third place in the Southland Conference standings and equal their conference win total from a year ago.
Despite recently dropping two games on the road, ACU is back in Moody Coliseum this weekend and Monday for three games, as they are in the midst of a four-way tie for fifth place at 4-4.
“There is so much parody in our conference right with teams beating teams that you wouldn’t think it would happen, but it’s happening right now,” head coach Jason Bibler said. “The conference as a whole is getting stronger, the bottom half from last year is playing really well right now.”
ACU will start their home stand with a favorable matchup against a New Orleans team, who stumbles in with a 2-5 conference record. The Wildcats have found great success against the Privateers over the past three years, winning both matches and all six sets played.
New Orleans is 1-2 over their last three games, with its only win coming against non-conference opponent Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Meanwhile, this will be the final Moody Coliseum home stand ACU’s senior trio will play in, as they all approach career milestones with the end in sight.
Jennie Loerch, who eclipsed 1,000 career kills earlier this season, currently ranks 10th all-time needing just 55 more kills to reach 1,300.
Senior Sarah Siemens became the sixth Wildcat volleyball player to reach 3,000 career sets and could finish as high as fourth all-time if she maintains her 9.17 assists per set average.
Finally, libero Madison Hoover made history during ACU’s previous home stand by earning the program’s first Southland Conference player of the week award. She also needs just 15 more digs to pass Jessica Mayes for second in ACU’s history.
Their three-game home stand continues Saturday when Southeastern Louisiana visits the Key City for showdown which could significantly impact the Southland Conference standings.
The Lady Lions are in the middle of a two-game winning streak and will travel to San Antonio for a matchup against Incarnate Word before coming to Abilene.
At 4-3, Southeastern Louisiana is a .5 game in front of the Wildcats and riding momentum from a 3-1 upset victory of Stephen F. Austin. ACU is 1-1 all-time against the Lady Lions with each team winning on the road.
The Wildcats have won four out of five of their home matches this season, with their lone loss coming in a five-set thriller against Stephen F. Austin.
“I think we had a lot of moments where we could’ve executed better,” Bibler said. “We’ve got three seniors, but this is there last home stretch and we go on the road and getting the rest of the team to really play hard and sacrifice for them would be a good thing to kind of end the home stand on.”
