ACU’s three-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt on Wednesday night as the Wildcats fell in straight sets to Conference USA opponent North Texas.

Meanwhile the Mean Green extended their win streak to eight with the decisive performance.

The Wildcats fell behind early, as UNT jumped out to a 9-2 lead before an ACU timeout. But after the timeout it was much of the same. North Texas grew the lead to 20-8 and eventually took the first set with an emphatic 25-10 victory.

ACU faired better in game two as it had the deficit cut to six at 23-17, but the Mean Green shut the door 25-17, with consecutive points. Although the Wildcats recorded six blocks in the three short matches, the team struggled to get anything going offensively. North Texas boasted nearly a .500 team hitting percentage, while ACU finished with a .108. The Wildcats also mustered just 24 kills in the match, 14 of which came from junior middle blocker Lauren Walker and freshman middle blocker Lorin McNeil. Each player had seven apiece. Defensively, McNeil and senior Corinne Grandcolas led the with two blocks each.

North Texas is now 9-1 on the year and ACU falls to 4-8. However, despite the loss the four wins by the Wildcats during non-conference play are the most by a team since ACU’s first year of Div. 1 transition, when they also upset Texas Tech.

The Wildcats will get a much deserved break after 12 straight games on the road to start the season. Head coach Angela Mooney said the team will use the extra rest to regroup.

“We will look to refocus on ourselves a little more, take time to recover our mind and bodies as well as even go to a class or two,” Mooney said.

And on Sept. 23 ACU will open conference play against Sam Houston State in Moody Coliseum. It will be the first time the team and fans get to experience the brand-new high-definition video boards, which were purchased and installed over the summer.