Recap: Team Abercrombie Sweeps Up 77-53 Victory Over Team Hentz

The win lifted Team Abercrombie’s Week Four record to 2-0, while handing Team Hentz its second consecutive loss in the season’s penultimate week.

Hoffman, the match’s MVP 1 recipient, erupted for a season-high 15 kills while hitting .419 with 11 digs to collect a season-high 429 leaderboard points.

Abercrombie, meanwhile, received her league-leading ninth Match MVP commendation of the campaign with an MVP 2 selection. The first-year AU performer slammed down a match-high 18 kills and hit .432 en route to 380 leaderboard points.

Nuneviller completed the Match MVP sweep after nearly recording a double-double with 13 kills and nine digs, giving the Chandler, Ariz., product a season-best 335 leaderboard points.

Setter Sydney Hilley dished out 39 assists in the victory, while libero Manami Kojima chipped in 11 digs.

Team Hentz was paced by outside hitter Madi Kingdon Rishel, who tallied 11 kills with six digs. Setter Natalia Valentin-Anderson added 32 assists, while team captain Morgan Hentz garnered a match-high 18 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Team Abercrombie hit a blistering .533 with just one attack error in the opening set to surge ahead with a 25-12 advantage. Team Abercrombie upped its match cushion to 52-37 after holding off a fierce second set rally from Team Hentz to claim a 27-25 triumph. The squad completed the three-set sweep with a 25-16 verdict in the final frame.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

Hoffman climbed six spots on the leaderboard into third place after her season-high performance, giving her 2,384 leaderboard points. Abercrombie, meanwhile, will carry a 199-point advantage into Monday’s Week Four finale against Team De La Cruz-Mejía.

MATCH NOTES

• Hentz and Abercrombie squared off as opposing captains for the first time in their Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball careers.

• Team Abercrombie authored the 32nd win points sweep in AU Pro Volleyball history, including the sixth instance this season … Abercrombie has been the winning captain for two of the six sweeps this season.

• Sunday marked the second time in Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball history where both matches in a single day resulted in a win points sweep … Team Lowe and Team Larson each posted a win points sweep on March 22, 2021, at Fair Park Coliseum.

• Team Abercrombie’s 24-point margin of victory stands as the largest cushion in a match this season … It also ranks as the fourth-largest margin in the league’s history.

• Team Abercrombie fashioned a .351 team hitting percentage in Sunday’s victory, marking the best mark by a team this season … It is the first time a team has hit .300 or above since October 20, when Team De La Cruz-Mejía secured a .336 hitting mark against Team Drews.

• Hentz has dropped eight of her last nine matches as a team captain, including the last four in a row … She now stands at 8-9 as a team leader in her AU Pro Volleyball career.

• Teams wearing the Gold jersey own a league-best 8-3 record this season, including a five-match win streak … The Blue jersey, meanwhile, is 2-9 through Sunday’s matches and has dropped nine of its last 10 fixtures.

• Abercrombie, who has won her first eight matches as a team captain, has equaled the record for best career start by a captain across all Athletes Unlimited sports … Corner infielder Jessi Warren won her first eight games as a team captain during the 2020 AU Pro Softball Championship Season.

• Abercrombie stands as the only player in the league to register 10 or more kills in all 11 matches this season after finishing with 18 kills in Sunday’s outing.

• Nuneviller has authored a double-digit kill performance in 18 of her last 19 matches dating back to last season, including 10-of-11 contests this season … She also became the eighth player in league history to accumulate 300 career kills.

• Nuneviller has also won back-to-back matches following a seven-match losing streak.

• Nuneviller owns six career matches with 300 or more leaderboard points after accruing 335 points in Sunday’s victory … It is the first time she has reached the 300-point plateau since closing last season with a 388-point outburst against Team Hentz on November 5, 2023.

• Abercrombie has tallied 300 or more leaderboard points in 7-of-11 matches this season, which is tied for the league lead with outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía.

• Hoffman posted her fourth double-digit dig outing of the season and also compiled her third double-double of the campaign … She also posted her second outing with 300 or more leaderboard points this season.

• Hilley has dished out 30 or more assists in eight of her last 10 matches … She has reached the 30-assist mark in 21 matches over the last two seasons.

• Setter Taylor Bruns Tegenrot has rattled off eight consecutive victories after closing Week One with back-to-back losses.

• Kingdon Rishel owns 10 matches with 10 or more kills this season, including the last four in a row.

• Middle blocker M’Kaela White made her season debut in the third set for Team Abercrombie.

MATCH MVPS

• #1 – Claire Hoffman (Team Abercrombie, +60)
• #2 – Brittany Abercrombie (Team Abercrombie, +40)
• #3 – Brooke Nuneviller (Team Abercrombie, +20)