ABILENE – The Sam Houston Bearkats came out hot, but could not sustain it on Thursday in a 3-1 defeat to Abilene Christian at the Teague Center.
 
The Kats (14-8, 7-3 WAC) cruised to a 25-15 win in Set 1, but ACU (8-12, 2-7 WAC) caught fire from there on out to register its second win of league play this year and its first win over Sam Houston since 2017.
 
Ashley Lewis led all players with 16 kills and 12 digs, and Breanne Chausse had 13 kills and 10 digs; however, as a whole the Kats hit just .175, including just .117 in the final three sets.
 
Sam Houston was not able to take advantage of 13 ACU service errors, committing five blocking and 27 attack errors of its own in the match.
 
Morgan Janda dished out 46 assists, but the Kats finished with just .143 attacking for the night. McKenzie Morvant led the team with four blocks and Hannah Baker led all players with 27 digs.
 
The Kats will close out the weekend on Saturday at Tarleton. The match is set for 1:00 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+.