ACU set for LSC title run

Wildcats eyeing school's first volleyball title

LAWTON, Okla. -- Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, the ACU Wildcats can focus on their main goal of the season:  winning the school's first Lone Star Conference volleyball title.

The Wildcats will get the chance to do just that this weekend when they join five other LSC teams in the 23rd annual conference tournament.  This year's tournament will get started with Thursday's semifinal matches, continue with Friday's semifinals matches and conclude with Saturday's championship match.

"Winning our division is one of the small steps in what we're trying to accomplish here," said ACU head coach Brek Horn, who carries a 140-64 career record in her sixth season into the tournament.  "The next goal is to win the conference tournament and then earn a regional berth and then go from there.  Obviously the larger goals are to win a regional title and earn a spot in the nationaltournament.

"But we've accomplished the first step, and now we've got a great chance to accomplish the second," she said.  "One of the reasons we're in the position we're in is because this group works so hard in practice every day.  We push them harder in practice than they've been pushed in some of our matches.  But they want it, and they keep coming back for more.  It's not anything I've done or (assistant coach) Sarah (Carthel) has done.  It's a joint effort because we all want the same thing."

As the winner of the LSC South Division, the Wildcats will receive a first-round bye, and won't play until Friday at 5 p.m. when they take on the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal match between Eastern New Mexico and Central Oklahoma.

The Wildcats split a pair of matches against the ENMU Zias (winning 3-2 at home and losing 3-1 on the road) and beat Central Oklahoma 3-1 in Abilene at the LSC Crossover Tournament.

The other first-round bye goes to Cameron, which won the LSC North Division and the rightto host the post-season tournament.  The Lady Aggies will take on the winner of Thursday's semifinal match between Angelo State and Texas Woman's.

The winner of the tournament earns an automatic berth to next weekend's NCAA Division II Southwest Regional tournament, which will likely be played in Kearney, Neb., the home of Nebraska-Kearney, which is 32-0 overall and ranked No. 1 in the nation going into this weekend's Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Post-Season tournament.  The Wildcats, who have never reached the regional tournament, are ranked No. 3 in the most recent regional poll, and the top eight teams in the region will be invited to the tournament.  Those fields for those regional tournaments will be made public Sunday night.

Regardless of what happens in this weekend's conference tournament, the Wildcats are in good shape to earn at least an at-large invitation to the regional tournament.  However, their thoughts are on continuing to dominate this weekend's conference tournament, much like they've dominated the rest of the conference this season.

ACU -- which received the most votes (28) of any team not ranked in this week's national top 25 -- played 10 LSC teams 16 times this season, finishing with a 15-1 record in those matches and winning 46 of 52 games in those 16 matches.  They lost five games to Eastern New Mexico and one game to UCO during the season.  In fact, ENMU was the only LSC South Division team to win a game off the Wildcats during the season.

"The way we dominated the conference is huge for our confidence," Horn said.  "I've talked to our team and told them that we've beaten every team that's going to be in the tournament, but we definitely have the target on our back this weekend.  But our confidence level is high about how we'll play.  I think we all feel very good going into the tournament.  We haven't talked about anything that doesn't have to do with winning the conference title."

As usual, the Wildcats will be led by junior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt, who leads the LSC in kills per game (4.45) to go along with 494 total kills.  She has 1,540 career kills, which is second on the school's all-time list, and needs just 21 kills to pass Linda Evans into first place on the all-time list.  Junior middle blocker Amanda Slate is among league leaders in hitting percentage at .336, and she has 388 kills and 99 total blocks, both of which are among LSC leaders.

Junior setter Lindsey Martin leads the LSC in total assists (1,483) and assists per game (13.48), and her career total of 4,062 is second on the school's all-time list.  Senior libero Kellen Morrow is among league leaders in total digs (456) and digs per game (4.18).  She is fourth on the school's all-time digs list with 1,456 career digs.

The Wildcats enter the tournament as the hottest team in the field, having won 20 of their last 22 matches, including six straight.  Of those 20 wins, 16 have come by 3-0 scores.  It's an impressive streak, but Horn said improvements can be made by her team.

"The biggest thing will be consistency in all aspects of our game -- ball control, passing, serving, hitting and defense," she said.  "There's a lot of emotion involved when you get to this point of the season, but if you can stay consistent on the court then those things don't usually interfere with what you're trying to accomplish."

And what the Wildcats are trying to accomplish is something no other ACU volleyball team has ever done:  win a conference title.   In fact, no ACU volleyball team has ever even advanced past the conference tournament semifinals.  However, Horn doesn't see any of those things playing a factor in this weekend's tournament.

"I think we all believe that on a neutral court we can beat anybody in the tournament," she said.  "I'm not really stressed about maybe playing Eastern New Mexico just because they beat us at their place.  Even if we get to the championship match and have to play Cameron on their home court, I feel good about that match, even though it will be (longtime head coach) Kim Vinson's last home match before she retires.  There would be a lot of emotion tied up in a match like that for Cameron, but I believe we would be fine.  I believe we have the team and the make-up to be successful this weekend."