Oct. 27, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Junior left-side hitter Tara Thomas (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) posted 14 kills and 19 digs to pick up her 16th double-double of the season, leading Western Kentucky to a 3-1 (15-10, 15-4, 13-15, 15-13) Sun Belt Conference volleyball win over Arkansas State Friday night at E.A. Diddle Arena. The victory gives the Lady Toppers a two-match lead over ASU for second place in the SBC Eastern Division with five matches remaining in the regular season. The top two teams in each division receive byes through the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
Junior middle hitter Jessica Willard (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) continued her recent resurgence with a match-high 18 kills and a .333 hitting percentage for WKU. Senior left-side hitter Melissa Starck (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) added her eighth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 12 digs, and junior outside hitter Natalie Furry (Normal, Ill./Normal Community HS) contributed 12 kills and a season-high 14 digs to chalk up her seventh double-double of the year.
In addition, senior middle hitter Andria Humpert (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Notre Dame Academy) reached a career milestone Friday night, hammering her 1,000th kill in the fourth game. She is only the sixth player in school history to reach the millennium mark.
Western (21-6, 9-2 Sun Belt) led wire-to-wire in the first game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and eventually widening the gap to 11-4 on a pair of kills by Starck. A six-point ASU run cut the deficit to one, but Thomas responded with two kills on Lady Indian overpasses, igniting a game-ending four-point surge that gave the Lady Toppers the opening game victory.
Arkansas State (15-9, 7-4) seemed poised to even the match in game two, grabbing an early 4-2 advantage. WKU then exploded offensively, rolling up 13 unanswered points to claim the second game and put the Lady Indians on their heels, trailing two games to none.
ASU countered well after the intermission, opening up a 6-2 lead in the initial stages of the third game. The Lady Toppers tallied eight of the next nine markers to take a 10-7 lead. The Lady Indians posted three in a row, which was quickly matched by WKU, putting the hosts just two points from victory. Yet, Arkansas State would not go quietly, throwing up three blocks and notching the last five points to pull out a 15-13 win.
The Lady Indians rode that momentum into game four, racing out to an 8-4 lead and forcing a Western time-out. Following the stoppage, the Lady Toppers scored nine of the next 10 points, vaulting ahead by a 13-9 count. ASU made another charge, pushing across four straight tallies to even the game at 13-all. Furry then came up with a crucial kill to give WKU a match point, and sophomore setter Sara Noe (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) followed by rifling an ace deep in the ASU court, capping the Lady Topper victory.
Western Kentucky will not have much time to rest as it plays host to Eastern Division leader Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday at 1 p.m. (CDT) at Diddle Arena.
-- WKU --
