The Sam Houston State University Bearkats defeated the Abilene Christian University Wildcats 3-1 to continue their early season success.
In the first set, the Kats started strong with two service aces by senior libero Madison Wallace. Senior middle blocker Taylor Cunningham’s four kills helped the Bearkats capture a 17-9 lead in the first set that turned into a 25-15 victory.
With the second set underway, Cunningham added three more kills in the first five points. With the second set being tied at 13, the Bearkats won five of the next six points to go up 18-14. Sophomore outside hitter Caroline Sheaff helped the Bearkats with two kills in that stretch. Despite the effort, the Bearkats dropped the second set 25-22.
The third set started with four straight Bearkat points, two of which were Cunningham kills. After going up 18-8, SHSU hit a skid which led to five straight ACU points. Cunningham followed that with two straight kills, and SHSU won a tough set 25-22 giving them a 2-1 lead in the match.
ACU kept the fourth set close. Adding eight more kills to her night, Cunningham finished the contest with 29 total– a career high for a single match. The Bearkats never gave up and took the fourth set with the help of freshman outside hitter Breanne Chausse’s 13th kill in the match, giving the SHSU a 25-20 set win over the Wildcats.
The Kats are now 11-5 on the season (3-1 SLC). They will look to keep moving up the ranks when they take on the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.