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POINT SCORED — The Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions celebrate after scoring a point against Abaliene Christian University last Tuesday. The Lions would win the game in a five-set thriller. Submitted Photo
ABILENE — Former rivals, Texas A&M University- Commerce volleyball team and Abilene Christian, met for the first time since 2012 last Tuesday night, and the match up lived up the hype with the Lions taking a thrilling five-set win in Moody Coliseum via set scores of 25-21, 14-25, 27-25, 24-26, and 15-11.
This was the 56th meeting between the Lions and the Wildcats and A&M-Commerce is now 30-26 in the all-time series, having won the last three meetings. The Lions are 11-11 against ACU in Abilene.
The Lions improved to 2-2 on the season, while Abilene Christian dropped to 1-2, the Wildcats' lone win this season did come against defending Southland champion, Houston Christian.
'Tonight was a tough match, but fun for sure,' said coach Joe Morales. 'I am so proud of our team and their resiliency to keep fighting. A lot of players stepped up in crunch moments and got it done. We focused on our serving the last couple of days, and the improvement was visible.'
'This match definitely provides us with a lot of momentum going into a weekend where we are facing pretty elite competition.'
The Lions took the first three points of the first set, but the Wildcats tied it right back at three. Kitana Tuufuli (St. Hedwig – Steele) delivered back-toback kills to start another 3-0 run for A&M-Commerce, but ACU once again tied the set at 6-6 and took a 7-8 lead.
A&M-Commerce built a 16-11 lead and remained up front with the Wildcats pulling to within two. A kill by Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) gave the Lions a 25-21 set win in the first.
Both teams had runs early in the second set, with Lions leading 5-2 and then the Wildcats leading 7-5. ACU went on an 8-0 run in the middle of the set to lead by 23-11 and closed out the most lopsided set of the match, 25-14.
ACU had the early edge in the third set, leading 7-4 and doubled it to 12-6. The Wildcats were on their way to taking a 2-1 lead in the match as they had a 24-18 advantage in the third, but the Lions rallied. A kill by Tuufuli, followed by four straight Wildcat errors, an ace by Peyton Plant (Littleton, Colo.) and another kill by Tuufuli gave the Lions a 25-24 lead.
The Wildcats fought off the first set point, but had a service error to give the advantage to the Lions. Reese Fetty (Farmersville) hammered home a kill to give the Lions a 2725 set win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
A 7-0 run helped the Lions lead 12-4 early in the fourth set, but ACU stayed within reach of the Lions, pulling to 16-15. After the Wildcats tied the set at 22, the Lions won the next two points to have two chances to close out the match, but ACU on four straight kills took the set, 26-24, and extended the match to a deciding fifth set.
This was the first five-set match for the Lions since Nov. 12, 2022. Abilene Christian led 3-1 in the fifth, but the Lions came back to lead 4-3. The Wildcats pulled away to 9-6 lead, but the Lions won the next eight points to take a commanding 13-9 lead.
ACU took two straight to make it 13-11, but a kill by Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) and an ace by Millie Allgood (Sherwood, Ark.) gave the Lions a 15-11 win.
Tuufuli totaled 14 kills in the match, while also adding five digs, and two blocks. Fetty had nine kills and 12 digs, just missing her second double-double of the season. She had three aces and two blocks as well.
Jade Smith (Houston – Mayde Creek) recorded 20 digs, while Allgood had 10. Breann Connally (Coolidge – Groesbeck) posted 22 assists, she also led the team with three blocks, and Plant added 17 assists. For the Wildcats, Ashli Edmiston had a double-double with 18 kills and 14 digs.
UP NEXT
The Lions traveled to Lubbock over the weekend for the Texas Tech Invitational, facing Wyoming and Louisiana on Friday at 4 p.m., and Texas Tech on Saturday.