Zias fall in LSC semis

LAWTON, Okla. — Abilene Christian rallied from a one-game deficit for a 26-30, 33-31, 30-23, 30-17 win over Eastern New Mexico University on Friday in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference volleyball tournament.

ACU (27-7), the LSC South Division regular-season champion, advanced to Saturday night’s finals against North champion and host Cameron (20-11).

Meantime, the Zias (24-8) will wait to see if they receive a berth to the NCAA Division II Southwest Region tournament.

Their chances still appear to be good since they were ranked sixth in the region coming into the weekend.

The eight-team, three-day event begins Thursday or Friday.

Eastern led virtually all the way in the first game against ACU and was close throughout much of the rest of the match, but the Wildcats pulled away late in both the third and fourth games to beat the Zias for the second time in three meetings this season.

“We didn’t pass very well tonight, and that probably determined the outcome,” ENMU coach Mike Maguire said. “We played pretty well in the first game, but we looked a little sluggish, I thought.”

Senior middle blocker Emilie Rodman had 14 kills and six block assists while senior outside hitter Anna Bellum added 10 kills and 13 digs for the Zias.

Michelle Bernhardt topped the Wildcats with 18 kills and 11 digs, and Ashlee Motola added 15 kills.