After a 6-9 start to the season, Wildcat volleyball now turns to a new portion of the season: conference play.
The Western Athletic Conference takes on a new look this year for the volleyball teams. Last year, the conference had 9 teams, but lost two in the offseason: Grand Canyon University and Seattle University.
With a smaller conference this year, the Wildcats will play 12 games compared to the 14 last year.
Hannah Gonzalez, junior middle blocker from Lucas, said each game matters more this season, and the team will have to focus more on each individual game.
“We have to seize every opportunity because we’re not going to get as many opportunities to play with a smaller conference,” she said. “Every single game matters, and every single game we do need to win.”
Gonzalez, coming off her career high in kills against East Texas A&M Monday night, was a key weapon for the Wildcat squad in the non-conference play, Head Coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said.
Moronu Alstrup said there was a lot of good volleyball played in the East Texas game on Sept. 22.
“We saw a lot of really good volleyball,” Moronu Alstrup said. “Obviously, a lot of really good individual accomplishments, like Rachel having her highest assist number, Hannah having her highest kill number. It was all really exciting, but obviously it’s still a loss.”
Rachel Koss, junior setter from Appleton, Wisconsin, had a career high and set the Div. I program record for single-game assists with 60 on Monday night. As of Sept. 24, Koss leads all of NCAA Div. I volleyball in total assists with 508 through her 15 games.
Gonzalez said she would not have been able to perform as well without Koss’s help.
“Thank you to my setters, I couldn’t have done it without Rachel,” she said. “What makes her special is that she knows exactly what we want, and she knows how to read the block on the other side and plan out an offense that’ll create splits and seams for our hitters.”
In the first WAC game of the season, the Wildcats traveled to Utah Valley University and lost in three sets. Aubrey Beaver, junior outside hitter from Murrieta, California, led the offense for the team with 12 kills, while Brennan Ramirez, redshirt freshman libero from Waxahachie, led the defense with 10 digs.
The Wildcats will return to WAC play when they face California Baptist University at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
For the team to win, Moronu Alstrup said the Wildcats will need to focus on playing their style of volleyball, regardless of who is across the net.
“At the end of the day, we always just want to play like good ACU volleyball,” she said. “We want to go out and be the aggressor. We want to control the match as much as we can, control our touches, and so that won’t change regardless of who we’re playing.”
