Glendale, Ariz.- On a day that started early in the morning at home and finished on the road at night, Arizona Christian earned two wins.  The Firestorm set a new program record for team service aces in a match with 22 in their morning contest against Kuyper.

Match Info

• Match scores v Kuyper
  • Set 1: ACU 25-7
  • Set 2: ACU 25-5
  • Set 3: ACU 25-7
• Match scores v Park Gilbert
  • Set 1: PARK 25-14
  • Set 2: ACU 26-24
  • Set 3: ACU 25-18
  • Set 4: ACU 28-26
• Records: Arizona Christian - 13-10, Kuyper - 0-20, Park Gilbert - 4-7

ACU Stats v Kuyper 

• Jolee Ecklund - 6 kills, hit .750
• Ryan Coughlin - 6 kills, hit .600
• Krysta Petersen - 5 kills, hit. 833
• Madison Van Wie - 5 kills, hit .571
• Sydney Brown - 4 kills, hit .571, 4 aces
• Caitlin Chan - 11 assists
• Kylie Rhodes - 9 assists
• Reagan Schouten - 7 digs
• Trinity Weidinger - 5 aces

Inside The Box Score v Kuyper

• The Cougars scored the first two points and four of the first seven points of the match
• ACU rattled off nine straight points (Nikole Lunsford- four aces in run) and took off
• In set two, ACU opened with an 11-0 run and cruised from there (Becca Thomson - 3 aces)
• KC took three of the first five points in third set
• A 4-0 run (three aces by Schouten) moved the Firestorm ahead for good
• The 22 aces as a team broke the previous record of 21 set in 2022 against Menlo College

ACU Stats v Park Gilbert

• Brown - 13 kills, 13 digs, 5 blocks
• Coughlin - 10 kills
• Van Wie - 9 kills
• Petersen - 7 kills
• Caitlin Chan - 22 assists
• Thomson - 22 assists
• Lunsford - 16 digs
• Weidinger - 10 digs
• Haley Duncan - 5 blocks

Inside The Box Score v Park Gilbert

• A 1-1 tie started the match
• Park moved ahead with the next three points and stayed there
• Breaking a 4-4 tie, ACU went ahead 8-4 in set two
• With ACU up two at 23-21, Park secured the next three points to reach set point
• But ACU fought back with a 3-0 run highlighted by an ace from Thomson to claim the set
• Trailing 8-6 in the third, Coughlin and Petersen alternated putting away kills for a 4-0 run and the lead for good
• In set four, the Firestorm fought through ties to hold a 19-14 edge
• The Buccaneers went in front 20-19 and eventually had two set points
• But the Firestorm produced four of the final five points (Coughlin- kill, Van Wie/Duncan- block, Van Wie- kill, and Brown-kill) for the win

Thoughts from Coach Briscoe
"Lots of positives to walk away with today that culminated with another conference win.  We were able to spread some good reps around this morning in our match with Kuyper which served us well.  During the second match of the day we found ourselves in crunch time with two set wins that would be decided in extra points and our athletes showed up.  We grew in our grittiness and we plan to bring that into our final battle of the weekend tomorrow with our cross town rivals!" 

Up Next
The Firestorm will play their fourth match in three days when they host OUAZ on Saturday at 2:00 pm.