ABILENE, Texas – In each of the first two sets Thursday night, the Northwestern State volleyball team was unable to dig out of early deficits.
 
When NSU built a fiveIn -point lead late in the third set, however, host Abilene Christian found a way to fight out of it.
 
By virtue of scoring nine of the final 12 points in the third set, the Wildcats completed a 3-0 sweep of Northwestern State in a Southland Conference match, giving ACU its first win of the season.
 
"ACU had a great environment for there home opener and really wanted and needed this match, which showed in their play," first-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "ACU was very focused and determined. When we allowed ourselves to play, we went on some nice runs in the first two sets and looked good in the third. The bright side is we are still putting ourselves in positions to win, and we are going to learn to take advantage of those opportunities."
 
NSU fell behind by at least eight points in each of the first two sets before producing some strong rallies to put pressure on ACU.
 
Abilene Christian opened a 10-point lead (18-8) in the first set before Northwestern State strung together four straight points.
 
Northwestern State (3-14, 1-3) trimmed the lead to seven on a couple more occasions before Lauren Walker clinched the set for ACU (1-14, 1-1) with a kill, giving the Wildcats a 25-17 victory in the opening set.
 
In the second set, Abilene Christian took a 23-14 lead before NSU strung together a 5-0 run to put some pressure on the Wildcats.
 
After a Lauren Walker kill gave ACU a 24-19 lead, NSU used a Wildcats error and an Amanda Kunz kill to pull within three points before Jennifer Loerch took advantage of a free ball and delivered the set-clinching kill.
 
Loerch finished with 14 kills and eight digs for ACU. Lauren Agan led Northwestern State with 9 kills while Natalie Jaeger posted her second double-double of the season, recording 13 assists and 11 digs.
 
In the final set, Northwestern State used three straight attack errors by the Wildcats to create some separation (20-15) in what had been a tightly contested set.
 
After ACU's jacey Smith broke the string with a kill, Channing Burleson answered for NSU, re-establishing the five-point cushion.
 
NSU's lead was four points (23-19) after an Agan kill off a Madison Walford set. After Agan's kill, Abilene Christian rattled off three straight points, leading to an NSU timeout.
 
The break did not slow the Wildcats' momentum. Abilene Christian sandwiched kills by Jacey Smith and Kendall Bosse around an NSU attack error to close out the 25-23 third-set win and the sweep.
 
Northwestern State concludes its two-match road trip Saturday in San Antonio when it faces Incarnate Word at 11 a.m.