AC volleyball picks up vital win against Midland College

Another sensational outing by three-time WJCAC Player of the Week Kaela Neie.

A season-best passing performance as a team – led by liberos Rachel Russell and McCall Sims.

Career-best showings by sophomore middle blockers Olivia Hurnes and KayleeJo Underwood.

The feats put an end to the Badgers four-game losing streak on Saturday against Midland College and garnered a critical win for AC in the most prestigious junior college volleyball conference in the country.

Amarillo College rallied from a first-set loss to defeat Midland College in four sets (22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-17) on Sept. 21 at the FirstBank Southwest Center.

Neie tallied 19 kills – two off her single game school record – and hit over a .300 percentage (.359) for the seventh time this season. The sophomore from Bushland added four blocks to tie her highest point total (23) of the '24 campaign.

The Badgers back row played an equally important part in the team's success as AC's four serve receivers accumulated a season-best 2.29 pass rating.

Freshman McCall Sims (2.67) and Rachel Russell (2.41) led AC in passing efficiency, combining for 26 successful passes and zero serve receiving errors.

Stephenville native Genesis Mendez received the most serves (26) and successfully fielded 25 of them – resulting in a 2.31 pass rating.

Hurnes and Underwood received their largest amount of playing time this season during Saturday's victory and the upperclassmen made the most of their opportunity with career-best totals in the kill and block column.

Underwood recorded seven kills and Hurnes had four blocks.

The win moves AC into a four-way tie for third place in the conference with a 1-1 WJCAC record.

The following is the Western Junior College Athletic Conference standings with 12 WJCAC games remaining over the next six weeks for each team.

WJCAC Standings

T1. New Mexico Military Institute – 2-0

T1. New Mexico Junior College – 2-0

T3. Odessa College – 1-1

T3. Amarillo College – 1-1

T3. Midland College – 1-1

T3. Frank Phillips – 1-1

T7. Clarendon College – 0-2

T7. Western Texas College – 0-2