Badger volleyball wins home opener, goes 1-3 at AC tourney

Amarillo College's offensive potential was on full display in their first home game of the season.

Freshmen Allee Purcella and Jayli Franklin recorded career-high hitting percentages and combined for 15 kills during the Badgers home-opening sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-18) against Independence Community College on Friday at the FirstBank Southwest Center.

Purcella recorded six kills on 15 swings (.333 hitting percentage) and Franklin added the second-highest kill total on the team (9) via a .421 clip, highlighting AC's first sweep of the season.

Amarillo College trailed only once (4-3 in the second set) throughout the entire match and had a season-best hitting percentage (.266) to begin the homestand.

Sophomore Kaela Neie had yet another record-breaking performance over the weekend – leading the Badgers in kills in all four matches at the AC tournament.

Neie tied her single game kill record with 21 successful spikes in a five-set defeat to No. 20 Trinidad State College during Friday's nightcap.

The Bushland High School product tallied 71 kills (15, 21, 16, 19) over the course of the two-day tourney.

Neie is now the new school record holder for kills in a season (248) with 14 regular season games remaining for the 2024 campaign.

Amarillo College was defeated in their final three games of their home tournament.

The Badgers won a pair of sets against 20th ranked Trinidad St. and claimed a win in set one against 13th ranked Blinn, but dropped the matches to end the event with a 1-3 record.

Up next is the Badgers conference opener against New Mexico Military Institute on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at the FirstBank Southwest Center, starting at 6 p.m. The following is the results and scores of each match for the Badgers at the AC tourney.

Match 1 vs Independence Community College

Win: 25-21, 25-16, 25-18

Match 2 vs Trinidad State College

Loss: 23-25, 24-26, 25-14, 25-18, 15-13

Match 3 vs Blinn College

Loss: 21-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-8

Match 4 vs Frank Phillips College

Loss: 16-26, 25-21, 25-20, 16-25, 15-11