By Brian Roe, Sports Writer
Brek Horn won her 100th collegiate game, all with ACU, last Tuesday over Lubbock Christian University.
Horn said she didn’t even realize it was her 100th win until ACU sports and information director Lance Fleming called and informed her.
“We beat LCU, and I didn’t even hear about it until Wednes-day when Lance called to congratulate me,” Horn said.
Horn downplayed the significance of 100 wins by saying that her focus is on the team.
“I think it’s a big deal, but this isn’t really about me,” she said. “It’s about the program and the girls. I hope and feel like I am building a winning program, not just for right now but for years to come.
“I am focusing on the big picture because I want ACU to be a recognized program throughout the nation,” she said.
Horn said she is happy with 100 wins but said her college volleyball coach at Angelo State University recently won her 500th game, all with ASU in the past 25 years.
“I proud of winning 100 games, but I think it gets to be a bigger deal once you get to 300 or 400 wins,” Horn said. “So being with the same school for 25 years and winning 500 games, that’s a big deal.”
Under Horn, the Wildcats are off to one of the best starts in team history winning 15 of its first 20 matches as they close in on district play. ACU was picked to finish second behind West Texas A&M in the Lone Star Conference pre-season poll.
Horn said second is nice, but the team is looking to win conference this year.
“We are looking to win conference this year, plain and simple,” the fifth year coach said. “I don’t think our volleyball team has ever been conference champs before, so we want to be the first to do it and play in the regional tournament and go from there.”
Horn became ACU’s sixth volleyball head coach in July 1999. In 1998, the Wildcat volleyball team won only one conference game, going 1-11 in conference that season. In her first season as coach and after being picked to finish dead last in conference, Horn led ACU to a 23-12 record and the team finished fourth in conference.
The very next season, the 2000 Wildcats went 29-6, recording the highest winning percentage in school history (.829) and reached the LSC post-season conference semifinals for the first time in school history.
Horn came to ACU after serving as an assistant coach at Class 4A Gregory-Portland High School in 1998. She was also an assistant coach at Class 4A Andrews High School two seasons in 1996-97.
The fifth-year coach graduated in 1992 from Hereford High School, the same high school her sophomore star Michelle Bernhardt graduated from in 2001, and graduated from Angelo State University in 1996.
During her collegiate playing career as Brek Binder, she was named academic all-Lone Star Conference in 1995 and was honored with the Nathan’s Jewelers Award as team MVP in 1994 and 1995, and she led her team to the LSC championship in 1992.