The Wildcats had two home conference wins Thursday and Saturday to improve to 3-1 in the Southland Conference. 

The Wildcats played McNeese Thursday in the Teague Center for their first home conference game this season.

The Wildcats won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-18. McNeese took the third set 25-19, then ACU followed up with a close game in the fourth winning the set 25-21.

Senior outside hitter Katelyn Mueller had a career night with 23 kills and 14 digs. She led all hitters in kills while sophomore libero Mackenzie Harris led the way in digs with 19. 

“We are learning who we are and how good we can be with each game,” Mueller said. “I am super proud of us for fighting back and finishing the fourth set.”

Head coach Angela Mooney said she was confident her team had a great week in preparing for McNeese. Because of COVID-19-related reasons, McNeese had a few players absent from the game.

“I think we did a great job executing our scout,” Mooney said. “We served tougher than we have in the last couple matches which made a huge difference, and the passing on our side of the net allowed us to be in system quite a bit.”

The Wildcats brought the momentum into their next home game Saturday in their matchup against Lamar who is winless on the season thus far. 

ACU took care of business and swept Lamar in three sets. Mueller once again led all hitters in kills with 16. The blocking was very efficient for the Wildcats accounting for 15 total blocks.

Mooney and her team felt like they effectively scouted Lamar and were confident in what they were going to bring to the table and how they would handle it. 

“We made some adjustments within our own system to play against them and try to make them do things they are uncomfortable with,” Mooney said. “I think in every aspect whether it was front row, back row, serve receive or service pressure we were able to apply that successfully throughout the entire match.”

“We practiced very well this week and executed our scout great tonight,” redshirt sophomore setter Madison Rohre said. “Everyone did their job and focused on one play at a time allowing us to gain momentum and maintain it.”

The Wildcats do not play again until Feb. 25 when they will face Nicholls in Abilene at 6 p.m. in the Teague Center. The team will take this time to practice and prepare for the games ahead. 

“We are going to get in the gym and get better individually so we can come together even better,” Rohre said, “focusing on individual skill and ourselves to better the team and our program.”