CANYON, TX - Abilene Christian volleyball lost again in its series to West Texas A&M Friday night at "The Box," but tonight's decision was one of the closest in recent memory as the Wildcats fell by scores of 25-23, 25-23, 25-21.
ACU (3-6, 0-1 Lone Star Conference) rallied in both games one and two late only to fall late, and then let an early 10-3 lead slip away in game three as the seventh-ranked Lady Buffs (8-1, 1-0 LSC) won their eighth straight decision.
The Wildcats haven't beat West Texas A&M since 2005 or taken a set since 2009, but tonight's effort proved that this year's team - largely comprised of freshmen and sophomores - can hang with any team anywhere.
By comparison, last year's veteran-laden Wildcat team was crushed in Canyon by scores of 25-16, 25-5 and 25-11.
ACU played West Texas close throughout the first game and led by two at 21-19 entering crunch time. But it was then and there that the Lady Buffs caught fire and finished the set on a 6-2 run paced by three kills from Halie Harton.
Harton would finish the night with a game-high 14 kills and .226 hitting percentage.
The schools battled through 10 ties in the first game with neither side leading by more than three points. ACU used a pair of 5-2 runs in grabbibg both their leads at 15-13 and 21-19, but the Lady Buffs countered each time.
ACU started game two ahead 4-3 but quickly cooled as West Texas responded with a 7-2 run that forced the Wildcats to burn a timeout down 11-6. From there ACU trimmed the deficit to a pair only to see the home team score six straight points in attaining its biggest lead of the night at 18-10.
Four of the Lady Buffs' points during this stretch came off ACU errors as it appeared they were ready to run away with the lead, but the Wildcats answered with a tremendous rally that knotted the score at 23-23.
Freshman
Corrie Reeder ignited the comeback attempt with a kill and then a few plays later
Sara Oxford teamed with
Kalynne Allen on a block before delivering a kill of her own. Reeder again came through with a point that brought the Wildcats within two and then WT helped ACU by committing four errors over the next six possessions.
An attack error by Harton tied the game at 23-23, but Stormi Lancaster immediately pushed the lead back to WT with a kill, and was the server of record when Jennie Loerch hit her shot wide of the line.
ACU hit .124 for the match compared to .185 for West Texas. Oxford paced the offense with 10 kills but also had 11 errors.
Reeder ripped seven kills while Loerch registered five. Freshman
Sarah Siemens tossed up 27 assists and
Madison Hoover had the most digs on ACU with 12.
WT used a 12-5 run led by Lancaster and Erin Dougherty in game three to tie the score at 15-15. The two sides then battled through four more deadlocks before the Lady Buffs ended the match on a 4-0 run with their final points coming on consecutive ACU attack errors.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday for a 2 p.m. (MT) / 3 p.m. (CT) at Eastern New Mexico.
ACU's final regular-season match with West Texas is slated for Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. at Moody Coliseum
