ABILENE – The Tarleton TexAnn volleyball team gave it all they had on Saturday and came up just short, dropping the 2009 regular season finale in four sets (25-12, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22) to Abilene Christian at Moody Coliseum on Saturday.
The TexAnns finish the season 10-21 overall, 4-7 in the Lone Star Conference and will miss the LSC postseason tournament for the first time since the 2005 season. ACU won their 14th consecutive match and advances to the postseason tournament as the No. 2 seed after finishing the regular season 26-5 overall and 11-1 in conference play.
The TexAnns were led offensively by Shay Gracy and Catherine Cutbirth as both players finished with nine kills each. Cutbirth posted a team-high .368 hitting percentage on the afternoon as well. Jessie Hartman ran the offense and finished the match with 32 assists. Gracy led the team at the net, recording two solo blocks and adding a block assist. Shea McBrearty led the back-row with a team-high 23 digs on the afternoon.
Gracy completed a stellar four-season career with the TexAnns on Saturday and had what was arguably her best season in 2009 as she recorded career-highs in both kills (303) and digs (94). The Stephenville native ends her career ranked third all-time in school history with 241 block assists and fifth all-time in total blocks with 316. She tallied 824 career kills and 251 digs as well.
McBrearty broke her own single-season digs record this season, tallying 514 digs in 2009. The junior standout out of Dripping Springs had 15 more digs this season than last season's record of 489. She posted a 4.55 digs per set average on the season, giving her the second best average in a single-season. For her career, she has recorded 1,334 digs and will head into the 2010 season needing just 130 digs to become Tarleton's all-time digs leader in a career. She currently ranks second all-time.
Hartman tallied 926 assists on the season giving her the sixth most in school history in a single-season. She has 1,663 assists in just two seasons with the TexAnns and currently ranks third all-time in school history. The San Antonio native finished second on the squad with 262 digs this season. She recorded a team-high 24 service aces and nine double-doubles this season as well.
2009 Notables
Rachel Wolf finished the season second on the team in kills as she tallied 287 successful attacks. She will head into her senior season next year with 587 career kills. The Windthorst native recorded a team second-best 23 service aces as well.
Erin Lynn, a native of Carlsbad, N.M., finished second on the squad with 75 total blocks (nine solo) and third with 181 kills in her first season as a TexAnn.
Danielle Perkins, a native of Friendswood, recorded 136 assists on the season and finishes her two-year career with 575 total assists.
As a team, Tarleton tallied 1,263 kills on .163 hitting; 1,171 assists; 1,703 digs; 100 service aces; and 191.5 total blocks in 2009.
