After being picked to finish second to last in various Southland Conference preseason polls, the Wildcats have ripped off eight wins and hold sole possession of fourth place with two games left.
The two games ACU has left this season are on the road, where the Wildcats are 2-9, against Stephen F. Austin (19-12, 10-4) and Northwestern State (6-21, 4-10).
Stephen F. Austin is 4-0 against ACU over the last two years, but the Wildcats fell just short of pulling off a huge upset in their last meeting earlier this year. After taking a 2-0 lead at the intermission, SFA squeezed out a win in the third game before controlling games four and five to capture a 3-2 victory.
The Wildcats topped SFA in every box score category except for blocks and errors, as the Ladyjacks committed 26 errors to ACU’s 39. However, since this early October matchup SFA has gone 6-4, while the Wildcats have done .5 a game better at 7-5.
Although the game would have been a major upset earlier on in the year, senior libero Madison Hoover and the rest of the team believe they are more than capable avenging the earlier loss.
“We were so close and we should have beaten them the first time, but we get a second chance luckily, so if we can just get in there and take SFA to the ground that’d be awesome,” Hoover said.
Meanwhile against Northwestern State, ACU is 1-3 all-time, but their lone win came earlier this season in straight set fashion. At the time the win ended a 14-game losing streak for the Wildcats.
Senior Jennie Loerch and freshman Kendall Bosse each recorded double-digit kills with 14 and 10 respectively.
Northwestern State has lost three straight games entering a matchup against Incarnate Word, before they host ACU in the team’s season finale.
ACU has not won a season finale since the 2012 season when they finished 8-12 in the Lone Star Conference.
With a win in either of the matches the Wildcats would post their first winning season since making the transition to Div. 1 three years ago. Two ACU wins and a Stephen F. Austin loss in their season finale against Incarnate Word could propel the Wildcats as high as third place in the conference.
