AC stays in postseason hunt with five-set victory over Western Texas

Fresh off the program's first-ranked road win, AC found itself in a familiar spot heading into Wednesday's Pink Out match against Western Texas College.

Win and finish the first conference cycle with a 4-3 record and a top-four spot in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference standings for the second consecutive season.

Despite losing to WTC in both matchups a season ago, AC changed their recent narrative against the Westerners with a five-set victory (25-19, 25-9, 18-25, 22-25, 15-9) on Oct. 8 at the FirstBank Southwest Center.

In the final frame, AC took a 5-1 lead and never relinquished its advantage during the set. WTC narrowed their fifth-set deficit to 9-7 before AC closed the match on a 6-2 run.

Delany Galligan ended the match with two consecutive kills following a service ace by Jayli Franklin.

WJCAC Player of the Week Emery Bryan hit over .400 for the third consecutive game, putting down 14 kills compared to three errors on 25 total attempts. Galligan tied Bryan for a team-best kill total (14) via a .314 clip.

Franklin set the school record for aces in a single season during Wednesday's match. The Amarillo native's trio of aces on Wednesday moved her season total to 40. With the mark, Franklin now owns two school records after setting the career aces record earlier this fall.

Franklin led the team in blocks (3) and aces (3) against the Westerners.

Tascosa High School product Yuna NG added a season-best kill total (10) with the third-highest hitting percentage (.280) on the team.