After a week of rest, ACU closed the road portion of its schedule by splitting the two games with a win against Northwestern St. on Thursday and a loss against Central Arkansas Saturday.
ACU swept the Lady Demons in three sets 25-19, 25-17 and 25-21. The first set started off as a back-and-forth battle until the Wildcats broke away after the game was knotted at 13. From that point on, ACU was in control of the game, as it took the first set with ease and then opened up the second set with a 9-1 lead. The Wildcats built their lead up to 19-5 and then 24-9, before an eight-point run by the Lady Demons on account of several Wildcat errors that made the score appear much closer than the game was. ACU won the set by one of six service errors on the night by NSU.
In the third set, ACU seemed to put the game away early, as it pulled away from NSU with an eight-point lead at 20-12, but the Lady Demons yet again made a late push to close the gap to two points before the Wildcats slammed the door with a four-point run to end the match 25-21.
The Wildcats hit a .176 on the game, and held the Lady Demons to a .059 on the night. In the first and third set, ACU hit a .238 and .250, but was hampered in the second set with only managing a .029 hitting percentage. Their second set woes were cancelled out by their ability to not let NSU get anything to go their way either as they held them to a -.057 hitting percent. ACU had 15 errors on the night, while NSU had 26.
Sophomore Kendall Bosse had a game-high 27 assists and added 11 digs to here stat line as well. Freshman Courtney Miller came up big as she led the game in blocks (4) and aces (3).
Saturday the Wildcats took on the Sugar Bears from Central Arkansas. ACU was unable to make the most of UCA’s 28 errors, committing 17 of its own, as they lost in four sets. The Wildcats were outplayed in almost every aspect during the game. UCA had 72 kills to ACU’s 41. ACU did manage an edge in blocks, as it had 13.0 to the Sugar Bears’ 5.5. Central Arkansas took control of this game from the get go, except for the hard fought second set, as it would go on to easy victories in the first, third, and fourth set.
ACU had its highest hitting percentage of the game in the second set .419, which was also the highest among both teams, but would not get over a .179 for the rest of the game, even being held to a -.071 in the fourth set. Central Arkansas’ lowest hitting percentage came in the first set with a .140 hitting percentage, but would not drop below a .275 for the rest of the match. On the night, ACU managed a .178 hitting percent, while giving up a .268 to the Sugar Bears.
Miller yet again came up big as she had a hand in nine of the 13 blocks for ACU and also had the lone ace for the Wildcats in the game. Sophomore Jacey Smith led the Cats with 13 kills and 15.0 points, while adding 4 blocks to her stats. Bosse had 33 assists and four blocks on the night. Senior Dorothy Swanson had 11 kills, 11 digs, and 2 blocks to give her the team’s second highest point total with 12.5.
After the weekend, the Wildcats moved to 8-19 on the season and 7-5 in conference. ACU sits in fourth place in the Southland Conference with four games left in the season.
The Wildcats will finish their season putting their perfect 5-0 home record to the test in Moody Coliseum. The first home defense comes against Houston Baptist (17-11, 8-4) on Thursday.
