ABILENE \u2014 Abilene Christian volleyball dropped a pair of matches to wrap up the ACU Invitational at Moody Coliseum on Saturday. The Wildcats fell to Cal State Bakersfield and North Texas, each by a 3-1 decision, to close the season’s opening weekend.<\/p>\n
ACU hits the road for a trio of games in Houston next week. The Wildcats meet the Houston Cougars at 6:30 p.m. Thursday before facing Houston Christian and Texas Southern on Friday.<\/p>\n
Rachel Koss<\/a> and Brennan Ramirez<\/a> each put together big weekends and landed on the All-Tournament Team. Koss dished out 99 assists, averaging 8.25 per set, alongside 16 digs. She tallied six kills and an ace for 7.0 total points. Ramirez was a force on defense, tallying 56 digs for 4.67 per set with 14 assists and four aces.<\/p>\n ACU Invitational All-Tournament Team
Game 1: Cal State Bakersfield 3, ACU 1<\/p>\n Westmont transfer Maddie Finnegan<\/a> powered the Wildcats with a team-best 13 kills alongside seven digs, while Alyssa Todd<\/a> continued her hot start with 10 kills. The freshman has 22 kills through two games. Annaleise Sevier<\/a>, making her season debut, tallied 10 kills and had a hand in two blocks.<\/p>\n Rachel Koss’<\/a> strong passing was on display with 35 assists, giving her 75 through two games. It’s her most assists in a two-game period since collecting 85 last September. Brennan Ramirez<\/a> had 18 digs for 44 through two games, her most over a pair of matches since last October.<\/p>\n Hannah Gonzalez<\/a> notched a pair of solo blocks and a block assist. She’s the Wildcats’ Division I leader with 59 career solo blocks. With four kills, the senior Gonzalez surpassed 600 in her career. Freshmen Pierson Smith<\/a> and Jayla Jackson<\/a> made their collegiate debuts, with Smith dishing out four assists.<\/p>\n The Roadrunners established themselves from the get-go to grab a 13-4 lead in the first set. Back-to-back kills by Aubrey Beaver<\/a> got the Wildcats within five before CSUB ended the frame on a 7-1 run for a 25-14 win. Each of Beaver’s five kills came in the opening frame at a .444 hitting percentage.<\/p>\n The second set was tighter as Finnegan came to life for ACU with six kills on 13 attempts. Gonzalez totaled 4.5 points on two kills, a solo block and a block assist. The Wildcats remained within striking distance of the Roadrunners before CSUB closed out a 25-20 victory.<\/p>\n ACU fended off a sweep in the third set as Finnegan, Todd and Sevier combined for 13 of the team’s 15 kills. Todd committed no errors with a .500 hitting percentage, while Finnegan and Sevier each attacked at a .300 clip or better. Koss set them up for success with 13 assists. Both squads battled to a tie at 21 before the Wildcats finished strong with a 5-1 rally en route to a 25-22 victory. The set featured 11 ties and four lead changes.<\/p>\n Six Wildcats registered a kill in the fourth frame, paced by Todd with four, while Koss reached 10 assists. ACU again kept CSUB within reach before a 5-1 streak sealed the match for the Roadrunners with a 25-18 victory.<\/p>\n Game 2: North Texas 3, ACU 1<\/p>\n Beaver fueled the Wildcats’ offense with 14 kills at a .286 clip alongside three block assists and five digs. Hadlee Welch<\/a> added eight kills and had a hand in a team-best five blocks. Hannah Gonzalez<\/a> rounded out the attack with seven kills, four block assists and an ace. Senior Alexis Strong<\/a> made her season debut in the second set and delivered six kills at an excellent .455 hitting percentage. Koss had 24 assists.<\/p>\n ACU found itself behind early in the opening frame, but a 6-0 rally put it in front, 7-6. Smith’s first career ace capped a 4-0 streak and moved the Wildcats ahead, 12-8. The Mean Green battled back to force a tie at 17 before closing on an 8-1 run for a 25-18 win.<\/p>\n North Texas took another early lead in the following set, but ACU again had an answer, grabbing an 8-7 advantage. The Mean Green controlled the tempo the rest of the way in a 25-14 victory. Welch and Beaver notched a trio of kills apiece, while Koss distributed seven assists.<\/p>\n For the second match in a row, the Wildcats found their footing in the third set as Beaver led the way. The versatile senior logged six kills and got a hand on two blocks. Koss and Smith combined for 13 assists. ACU posted a .281 hitting percentage and blocked three shots. It withstood a 10-1 North Texas run that put the visitors ahead, 15-8.<\/p>\n The Wildcats got within two points before the Mean Green made it a 21-16 game. ACU ended the frame on fire with a 9-2 rally, picking up a 25-23 victory.<\/p>\n North Texas rounded out the match with a 25-13 win in the fourth set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ABILENE \u2014 Abilene Christian volleyball dropped a pair of matches to wrap up the ACU Invitational at Moody…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-448931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n<\/p>\n
\n\tAlessandra Romo, L, North Texas
\n\tAddison Achilles, MB, North Texas
\n\tJahniya Jackson, OH, North Texas
\n\tAnaliese\u00a0Gagliano, L\/DS, Cal State Bakersfield
\n\tSuelen Lima, OH, Cal State Bakersfield
\n\tRachel Koss<\/a>, S, ACU
\n\tBrennan Ramirez<\/a>, L, ACU
<\/p>\n