The Wildcats swept Austin Peay, 3-0, Thursday night at the Winfield Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee, earning their second sweep of the Governors this season.

ACU improved to 13-6 overall and 5-2 in United Athletic Conference play, moving into a three-way tie for second place with North Alabama and Central Arkansas.

The Wildcats bounced back from a 3-0 loss to in-state rival Tarleton State on Saturday in Stephenville, winning all three sets against Austin Peay.

The match also marked a career milestone for Rachel Koss, senior setter from Freedom, Wisconsin, who surpassed 2,000 career assists after recording 37 in the win. 

Ahead of the rematch, head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup said she felt good about facing Austin Peay again after ACU swept the Governors two weeks earlier.

“They’ve had a really good run since we’ve seen them last,” Moronu Alstrup said. “We are gonna take what we learned from our last victory against them and try to apply it to this next match against them as well.”

ACU opened the first set with a 5-0 run before securing a 25-20 win.

Alyssa Todd, freshman outside hitter, and Hannah Gonzalez, senior middle blocker, combined for 11 kills in the set. Todd recorded six kills, while Gonzalez added five.

The Wildcats used another five-point run to take the lead in the second set before winning by the same 25-20 score.

Aubrey Beaver, senior outside hitter, recorded five kills in the set.

ACU carried its momentum into the third set, building an early 15-11 lead before closing out a 25-21 victory to complete the sweep.

Hadlee Welch, sophomore right-side hitter, recorded four kills in the third set, while Todd added four.

The Wildcats recorded 52 kills, tying their Division I-era high for kills in a three-set match, while posting a .312 hitting percentage as a team.

Beaver led the team with 13 kills and one block. Todd finished with 12 kills, while Gonzalez and Welch each recorded eight. Welch also added four blocks.

Avery Thaler, junior middle blocker, contributed five blocks and four kills at the net.

Defensively, Brennan Ramirez, redshirt sophomore libero, led the Wildcats with 18 digs. Abby Christian, senior defensive specialist, added 10 digs.

ACU will next face conference frontrunner Eastern Kentucky at 11 a.m. CDT Saturday in Richmond, Kentucky.

The Colonels enter the match with a 7-0 conference record, while the Wildcats are 5-4 on the road this season.

Beaver said the Wildcats are looking forward to testing themselves against the conference leader.

“We’re excited,” Beaver said. “I think we always play well against tough teams, so I’m excited to see how we match up against them.”