They finished strong all night and the Rambelles walk away with a 3-1 victory over ACU after the Wildcats took the first set.
Abilene Christian falls to 14-7 overall and 2-3 in the LSC. The loss snaps a 10-match win streak that the Wildcats had over the Rambelles.
I'll post the game story shortly and combine the blogs into one.
Backs against the wall
Trailing 20-13 in the fourth set, Mock has taken a timeout to try and rally the Wildcats to force a fifth and deciding set. Since getting within three points at 13-10, the Rambelles have outscored ACU 10-3.
Libero swap
After starting in a 6-1 hole, Mock subbed in freshman Kelsie Edwards for Amy Wilson at the libero spot. The adjustment has seemed to pay off so far as the wildcats are on a 9-6 run trailing 13-10.
Angelo takes set three
After knotting the score at 15, the Rambelles outscored ACU 10-4 to close the third set and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Wildcats are now in danger of losing to ASU for the first time since Oct. 1, 2002.
ACU managed to hit .000 in the third set with 10 kills and 10 errors on 30 attacks. The Rambelles, however, hit .240. It was a close set until the end, the score was tied nine times with four lead changes early, however, the Rembelles are showing their stamina at the end of sets and putting ACU away.
ASU's Alaina Sivells had five kills on eight attacks in the third set and leads all players with 10. Duncan has nine and ACU's Hutt has nine.
Golden sat the third set with seven kills and Curry came in, however, the junior had no kills and two errors on six attacks. Golden is on the floor in the fourth set.
As I finish this post, Angelo State is up 6-1 in the fourth set.
Cats in trouble in set three
Mock has just taken another timeout, the lead has changed and tied several times this set, but ASU just scored three straight points to break a 15-15 tie. Angelo appears to have the ability to finish strong tonight.
Sometimes being right is no fun
The momentum did carry over into set two as the Rambelles evened the match with a 25-21 win in set two. The lead changed twice in the match after ACU took the early lead; The Wildcats went up 16-15, however, ASU countered by outscoring the Wildcats 10-5 in the final 15 points of the set.
While the NCAA reduced the the point total of each set to 25 rather than 30, they did find a way to extend matches by having a 10-minute intermission after set two in conference matches. If you didn't have the intermission, often times a three-set match could be over in under an hour.
Wildcat freshmen Hutt and Golden have seven kills apiece and ASU's Duncan leads the match with a .400 hitting percentage and seven kills. Angelo hit .314 in the second set, leaving ACU with a narrow edge in that category through both sets at .176 to the Rambelles' .160.
Kellen's turn ...
Coach Mock called a timeout as Angelo took their first lead of the match at 12-11. The Rambelles' Kimber Duncan had an impressive kill that bounced off the head of one of ACU's players, which fired up the ASU student section that is showing great support in both numbers and vocally.
Youth movement
Six players are on the floor right now, three freshman, two sophomores and a junior. Whatever the outcome of 2008, ACU has a lot to look forward to as these players continue to play together and develop a chemistry.
Thanks to more notes from ASU's Ronn, I now know that Angelo has won only match this season after falling in the first set. As I finish this post, ACU leads set two 4-2.
'Cats win set one but ...
The momentum could be shifting ... The Wildcats were up 23-11 before the Rambelles stormed back to score 10 of the final 12 points of the set. After a quick start, we could be in for a much tougher second set.
Angelo only hit .025 in the first set, but the Wildcats did all they could to help with five serve receiving errors. ACU wasn't exactly at its best offensively hitting .167 but Golden and Hutt had five and three kills respectively.
First timeout, Wildcats' underclassmen off to hot start
Angelo called a timeout after Britni Golden knocked in her third kill of the set to put ACU up 14-6. Golden got her first LSC start of her career (and as I was typing put down her fourth kill) tonight and she has responded in place of Erin Curry. Freshman Jennie Hutt has a pair of kills and Shawna Hines has been in on three blocks already.
It's been a long time since I've been to the Junell Center in San Angelo. I'd forgotten how nice the place is. The $20 million dollar complex seats 6,500 and features a 9 X 12 video board.
Tonight's match features two Lone Star Conference teams with 2-2 records. ACU has won 10-straight over the Rambelles and ASU hasn't beaten ACU since the 2002 season when head coach Kellen Mock was a sophomore for the Wildcats. Thanks to Ronn, Angelo's assistant SID, I now know that as a player and a coach Mock is 11-2 all-time against the Rambelles.
Talking with a lot of the players and Mock before the match - the Wildcats are excited about the opportunity to put a win on the board, but also this weekend will be the first weekend they've had off since the long journey of the season began Aug. 15.
Updates throughout the match to come ...
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