CARROLTON, GA- West Georgia Volleyball dropped a three-set loss to Abilene Christian in the first ever UAC match hosted at The Coliseum on Saturday. Sophomore Courtney Joseph shined with a Division I career high in blocks, stuffing the Wildcats four times during the match.
SET ONE: Leading off the set on a 4-2 UWG run thanks to multiple Wildcat attack errors, West Georgia would find themselves with an early 5-3 lead over ACU. The two clubs would battle point-for-point until Abilene Christian took 11-9 lead behind a Hadley Welch kill and two Wolf attack errors. West Georgia would rally back into the set after two ACU attack errors and a Milena Cetkovic and Grace-Blythe Cornett, then forcing Wildcat head coach Ijeoma Moronu Alstrup to burn a timeout. ACU would take a 24-21 lead before UWG would rally to tie it all 24-24 behind a Brooke McCall and Valiree Schmus kill as well as a Maddy Kirmer and Anežka Ouredníková block. UWG would ultimately drop the set 27-25.
SET TWO: Beginning set two with two Grace-Blythe Cornett kills and a Wildcat attack error to pull the early 3-1 lead. Abilene Christian would then go on a 4-0 run courtesy of three UWG errors, making the score 5-3 ACU. West Georgia would tie the set up at five after another Grace-Blythe Cornett kill and Milena Cetkovic service ace. ACU would then piece together a 5-0 run via four kills and an Abilene Christian service ace. Needing a much-needed spark, Adam Milewski looked to Courtney Joseph to deliver. Joseph had an immediate impact tallying a kill and helping the Wolves fight their way back to pull within two points. UWG would fail to pull back ahead ultimately dropping the set 25-22
SET THREE: Starting things off with a Valiree Schmus kill to take the first point of the match, an ACU attack error would then give UWG a 2-0 lead early on. Two back-to-back kills from ACU's Alyssa Todd to tie things up. A Courtney Joseph kill would give West Georgia the lead 4-3. The Wolves would compile a 3-0 run behind an Abilene Christian service error and two Giorgia Mandotti service aces. The two clubs would trade point-for-point up until ACU would put together a 6-2 run to end the game, dropping the final set 25-21.
Highlights:
Maddy Kirmer extends her 14 game streak of recording at least one block. Valiree Schmus recorded 13 kills this match, extending her streak of five matches. Courtney Joseph tallied four blocks, the most in her Division I career.
Catch West Georgia Volleyball next as they host North Alabama Tuesday (Sept. 29) to face the Lions to continue UAC conference play. This will be the tenth meeting between UWG and UNA with the Lions leading the all-time series 9-0. The match will be streamed on ESPN+, and as always Live Stats will be available for fans to follow along.
The next West Georgia home game is Sept. 26 where they are set to host North Alabama at The Coliseum. Tickets for upcoming matches can be found here, and as always UWG students get into home match for FREE with a valid UWG ID!
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