Wildcats earn spot in regional

ACU to take on St. Edward's in Friday quarterfinal

ABILENE -- A season of historic firsts continued for the ACU volleyball program Sunday night when the Wildcats were invited to the NCAA Division II Southwest Region tournament for the first time in school history.

The Wildcats (29-7), who have already won their first Lone Star Conference South Division title and overall conference title this season, go into the tournament as the No. 3 seed in the eight-team field.  Top-seeded Nebraska-Kearney -- the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion and top-ranked team in the nation -- will be the host for the tournament, which will be played Friday-Sunday in Kearney, Neb.

ACU will open the tournament against a familiar foe in St. Edward's, which enters the tournament as the Heartland Conference champion and the No. 6 seed in the field.  The Wildcats and Hilltoppers will play Friday at noon in the quarterfinals.

The Wildcats beat St. Edward's in three games (30-28, 30-19, 30-20) in the only meeting between the teams this season, Oct. 12 in Abilene.

"When we started this season, we had a lot of goals for our team, and one of them was to go into the tournament ranked in the top six in the region," said ACU head coach Brek Horn.  "They expanded the field to eight teams this season, but we didn't want to be one of those bottom two teams and have everybody think we got in just because they made the field bigger.

"Going in as the No. 3 seed is huge for us," she said.  "Our attitude right now is that we're not just going there to be there; we're going there to win it."

The Wildcats have played four of the seven other teams in the field and are 4-2 in those six matches, including 2-1 against ENMU and 1-0 against both St. Edward's and Metropolitan State (Colo.).  If the seeds hold in Friday's quarterfinals, the Wildcats will take on Fort Hays State (Kan.) in Saturday's semifinals.  The Wildcats suffered a 3-0 loss to the Lady Tigers on Sept. 3 at the Cal State-San Bernadino Tournament.

Eastern New Mexico, which lost to ACU in Friday's LSC Post-Season Tournament semifinals, is the only other LSC team to have made the field.  The Zias are the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 Mesa State (Colo.) in the first round.

The Wildcats earned the LSC's automatic berth into the regional tournament with a domianting LSC Post-Season Tournament championship game win over Cameron.  ACU hammered the Lady Aggies, 30-18, 30-25, 30-23, in Saturday night's final.

Freshman outside hitter Abbie Lowry led the Wildcats with 16 kills, while junior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt added 13 kills as she became ACU's career leader in kills with 1,471.  Junior middle blocker Amanda Slate had seven kills and seven blocks to give her 16 blocks in two matches as she earned LSC Post-Season Tournament MVP honors.

Bernhardt and junior setter Lindsey Martin were the other two Wildcats named to the all-tournament team.