ACU (6-15, 3-6) started off their week with a 3-2 loss to the University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks (14-7, 6-3) on Thursday but bounced back on Saturday with a 3-1 win over the Tarleton Texans (11-13, 3-6).
With five Western Athletic Conference matches remaining, the Wildcats have to win out in order to qualify for the WAC Tournament on Nov. 17-19 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. New head coach Alisa Blair said her team is working on playing with confidence to finish the season strong.
“We’ve talked about having that killer mentality when we get on the court,” Blair said. “Just be rallied together and really push for each other, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. I’ve said this a million times, if we really focus on us and we play together, if we push for each other, we play for someone other than ourselves then we will be able to compete the way we want to.”
On Thursday, the Mavericks took a commanding 2-0 lead early before the Wildcats scratched their way back to a fifth set. Blair’s team battled but fell 18-16 to lose the match 3-2. Earlier in the year, UTA beat ACU 3-1 at Moody Coliseum. Blair said her team started slow but her girls turned it around quickly.
“It was a rollercoaster,” Blair said. “It was a very, very tight game. It could have gone either way. It was just who was being the most aggressive at the end.”
Middle blocker Breanna Box, senior from Wichita Falls, matched a career-high 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Behind Box were three other Wildcats with double digit kills — outside hitter Jada Birkel, senior from Austin, middle blocker Braden Bossier, junior from Fairfield, outside hitter Bryley Steinhilber, sophomore from Kennedale.
Tarleton came to town on Saturday as the Wildcats took the win 3-1 over their nearby rivals. ACU got off to a quick 14-5 start before Tarleton led 18-16 and finished on a 9-4 run to take the first set 25-22. Once the Texans came back with a set two win, the Wildcats dominated. ACU hit an astounding.464 and .538 in sets three and four to take home the WAC win.
Outside hitter Bryley Steinhilber, sophomore from Kennedale, outside hitter Londyn Gray, senior from Weatherford and outside hitter Ashli Edmiston, freshman from Wilsonville, Oregon all had double-digit kills. Steinhilber was authoritative with 14 kills on a .400 hitting percentage. Blair said she was pleased with the performance of her outside hitters.
“I thought our middles and our right sides after the second set did a really good job of making their presence known,” Blair said. “That gave our outsides the opportunity to have a little bit bigger hole to swing out of. But they also had Andie in their ear setting them a really good ball.”
Libero Andie Sheppard, redshirt sophomore from Midland, received another start and proved herself once again with 18 digs. She now has 62 digs on the year with 3.44 digs per set. Sheppard said the mentality of the team has switched in recent matchups because they know they have to win out to make the tournament.
“I feel comfortable playing with every girl next to me,” Sheppard said. “I feel that when I go out there with confidence, I play my best. If I was to go out there worried, then I would never be successful.”
Next up for ACU are their final two home games of the year next weekend against Seattle U (4-12, 0-8) on Thursday and Utah Valley (12-7, 6-1) on Saturday. The Redhawks are yet to win a WAC matchup with recent losses to Southern Utah, 3-0, and Utah Tech, 3-1. The Wolverines have won five in a row with recent wins over Stephen F. Austin, 3-1, and Utah Tech 3-0.
“With those last two teams coming in, we’re wanting to defend just as much as we have been right now,” Blair said. “Our girls are really focused on understanding if we want to make it to the conference tournament, we have to have blinders on. We have to push and find ways to score in the hardest ways possible.”
The Wildcats tip off against the Redhawks at 6 p.m. on Thursday and will be streamed live on ESPN+. The Wildcats finish their weekend against Utah Valley at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Moody Coliseum and will be streamed live on WAC International.
