Wildcats pick up first two wins of 2005

ACU moves into Gold bracket at Premier Challenge

DENVER -- The ACU Wildcats picked the perfect place to win their first two matches of the season as they went 2-0 Friday at the Premier Classic, including a win over an NCAA Division II top-10 powerhouse.

The Wildcats began play in the tournament at 0-3 on the season, but quickly changed that, rebounding from down 0-2 in games to beat No. 6 Concordia-St. Paul in five games, 23-30, 29-31, 30-23, 30-24, 15-13, to pick up their first win of the season.  That win also marked the Wildcats' first win over a top-10 program under the direction of seventh-year head coach Brek Horn.

ACU then came back late Friday night to beat the tournament hosts from Regis University, 30-21, 30-17, 30-25.  The Wildcats, who have played NCAA Division top-10 teams in three of their first five matches of the season, will play unranked Findlay (Ohio) at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals of the Gold bracket.  The Gold bracket is made up of the four teams with the best records in their qualifying pools, and includes ACU, Findlay, No. 7 Central Missouri State and defending NCAA Division II national champion and third-ranked Barry (Fla.).

The winner of the ACU-Findlay match will play the winner of the CMSU-Barry match at 8 p.m. Saturday for the tournament championship, while the two semifinal losers will play Saturday afternoon for the tournament consolation championship.

ACU senior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt led the Wildcats in both matches, racking up 39 kills in two matches with 24 coming in the come-from-behind win over Concordia-St. Paul.  Sophomore outside hitter Abbie Lowry had 34 kills with 20 coming against St. Paul, while senior middle blocker had 27 kills in the two matches with 16 coming in the day's first match.

ACU hit .267 as a team in tthe first match, then came back and hit a whopping .359 as a team against Regis.