ABILENE, Texas – HBU put together one of its best offensive performances of the season, but Abilene Christian had just enough of an answer defensively late to escape with a 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 27-29, 25-23, 16-14) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum.
Senior setter
Madison O'Brien recorded her second career triple-double, becoming the first player in HBU history with two, tallying a career-high 59 assists, 10 kills and 18 digs for the Huskies (9-11, 2-4 SLC). Sophomore outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens posted the first 20-20 match of her career with a career-high 24 kills and matching her career-high with 24 digs. Freshman outside hitter
Catherine Drapela added a career-high 13 kills, sophomore right side
Ashtyn Richey had 12 and sophomore middle blocker
Megan Patillo had 11. Junior libero
Hannah Lewis came up with 18 digs, freshman
Cici Collins had 13 and junior
Camie Copeland had 11.
Lauren Walker led ACU (7-10, 4-1) with 17 kills and added five blocks. Jacey Smith and Katelyn Mueller each double-doubled, Smith with 16 kills and 14 digs and Mueller with 15 kills and 16 digs. Kennedy Shelstead contributed 11 kills and seven blocks and Marybeth Sandercox had six kills and six blocks. Kendall Bosse dished out 53 assists and had nine digs. Lillian Drever had 31 digs and Mikai Brown had 15.
HBU hit .224 for the match, while ACU hit .200. The Huskies outdug the Wildcats, 95-89, and outaced them, 6-3. ACU outblocked HBU, 12-4, and had only one service error to the Huskies' seven.
The Huskies took a 4-1 lead in the decisive fifth set, but the Wildcats tied it at 4-4 and neither team led by more than a point, until HBU scored three straight on kills by O'Brien, Patillo and Vivens to push ahead, 12-10. A kill by Davenport got the Huskies to match point at 14-12, but a kill by Smith and a block by Bosse and Walker tied the frame. After an HBU timeout, Walker gave ACU the lead with a kill and Walker and Bosse put up a block to clinch the match.
ACU scored the first seven points of the match and led 9-1. Trailing 12-5, HBU scored four-straight points to get back within three. A five-point run by the Huskies tied the set at 14-14, before the Wildcats sided out. HBU then scored the next four to take its first lead of the match at 18-15, but ACU scored the next two to trim the advantage to one. The Huskies responded by scoring three in row, then closed out the set, 25-20.
HBU led 8-7 in the second, but ACU used a four-point run to take a three-point lead. Three more consecutive points extended the Wildcats' lead to five at 16-11, then the Huskies fought back within one at 17-16. The Wildcats scored six of the next seven and tied the match by taking the set, 25-19.
The Huskies led 6-5 early in the third, but the Wildcats scored nine of the next 10 points to lead 14-7. HBU bounced back by taking eight of the next nine points to tie the set at 15-15. The set was still tied at 18, but ACU got back-to-back kills from Mueller and Smith to lead by two. The Huskies were able to stay within one until getting kills from Patillo and Vivens to knot the score at 24-24. After an ACU timeout, a Vivens kill gave HBU a set point, but Mueller kept it tied with a kill. The two sides traded points on two occasions, before Vivens put the set away with back-to-back kills for a 29-27 decision.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth, then extended their advantage to 14-8. The Huskies responded by ripping off the next nine points, which included two kills each by O'Brien and Patillo, for a 17-14 lead. HBU led, 20-17, but ACU regrouped to score four-straight and take a one-point lead. The Wildcats reached set point on a pair of kills by Shelstead and the Huskies battled for a two points, before dropping the set, 25-23.
The Huskies return to action when they face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi.
