Wildcats look to continue home streak

ACU hosts Angelo State in search of 28th straight win at Moody

ABILENE -- The nationally ranked ACU volleyball team will try to continue its home court winning streak Tuesday night when its hosts Lone Star Conference South Division rival Angelo State at Moody Coliseum.

The Wildcats and Rambelles will get started at 7 p.m. at Moody Coliseum as ACU seeks to run its home winning streak to 28 straight matches.  Tuesday night's match will be broadcast live on KYYW 1470 in Abilene, and on the internet at www.teamline.cc.  ACU hasn't lost at home since a four-game loss to West Texas A&M on Oct. 11, 2003, and ran the streak to 27 straight home wins last Thursday with a 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. 

The Wildcats -- ranked No. 14 in the nation, according to the American Volleyball Coaches' Association -- have won 12 straight matches this season after starting 0-3.  The defending LSC champions are 2-0 and alone in the first place in the LSC South.

ACU has been totally dominating over the last three weeks as it has lost just one game in its last eight matches, and that was on Sept. 16 in a 3-1 win over Central Oklahoma.  ACU has rarely even been challenged, having held opponents to 21 points or less in 12 of their 24 game wins in that eight-match stretch.

While senior outside hitter Michelle Bernhardt (pre-season LSC South Division MVP) and senior middle blocker Amanda Slate (last year's LSC South Division MVP) get more notice, senior rightside hitter Ashlee Motola has been stellar all season.  In two matches last week, Motola hit .550 with 27 kills and just five errors on 40 total attacks to give her 169 kills on the season and an LSC-best .392 hitting percentage.

The Wildcats, in fact, have three players hitting better than .300 on the season, led by Motola and followed by Slate at .385 and Bernhardt at .301.  Bernhardt, with 253 kills on the season, leads the LSC in kills per game at 4.77, while Slate has 210 kills of her own. 

Bernhardt has 1,837 career kills, and should pass the 2,000-kill plateau before the season is over.  Slate has 1,267 career kills, good for seventh on ACU's all-time list.  She needs just seven to pass Jennifer Purvis (1,273 from 1998-2001) for sixth place.  Slate could possibly move into fourth on the all-time list by the time the season ends, but she'll need to top Misti Germany's total of 1,444 to do so.

Senior setter Lindsey Martin, with 708 assists on the season, leads the LSC in assists per game at 13.36 as she continues her pursuit of the LSC career assist record.  Martin has 4,910 career assists, which leaves her 881 assists away from breaking the record of 5,790, which is held by former Texas Woman's setter Sarah Steinmetz.

ACU has won five straight matches against the Rambelles (the last four by 3-0 scores), and have not lost to ASU since a five-game loss at Angelo State on Oct. 1, 2002.  ACU head coach Brek Horn, who played at Angelo State from 1992-95, is 9-3 against the Rambells since becoming the Wildcats' head coach prior to the 1999 season.

Angelo State enters Tuesday's match at 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the LSC South Division after splitting last weekend's matches against Tarleton State (win) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (five-game loss).  The Rambelles are led by Lindsay Huling's 239 kills, while Amber Smith has 148 and Kateiann Stevens has 108.  Setter Tess Brindock has 717 assists.