Oct. 7, 2000
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Western Kentucky University volleyball team became the last Sun Belt Conference unit to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten, bowing to defending league co-champion Arkansas-Little Rock, 3-0 (16-14, 15-4, 15-10) Saturday night at Trojan Fieldhouse. The loss drops the Lady Toppers into a tie for first place with the Trojans atop the SBC Eastern Division standings.
Junior left-side hitter Tara Thomas (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) had 14 kills and junior middle hitter Jessica Willard (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) added 10 kills for WKU. Tanja Radovic logged a match-high 25 kills and hit .404 for Arkansas-Little Rock.
Western (16-4, 5-1) bolted quickly from the gate, jumping to a 5-1 lead to begin game one. UALR countered with a crippling 11-point spurt to go ahead, 12-5. The Lady Toppers tallied five of the next six markers to shave the deficit to 13-10, but a Trojan ace pushed the hosts to their first game point. From there, the WKU defense stood tall, fighting off seven game points while scoring four in a row to force a 14-14 tie. However, the Western rally died there, as an attack error and an ace gave UALR the win by a 16-14 count.
Arkansas-Little Rock (12-3, 5-1) rode the wave of emotion from game one into the second period, logging the first eight tallies. The Lady Toppers briefly held the Trojans in check with a pair of points, but they would get no closer as UALR grabbed a two-game lead in the match with a 15-4 game two victory.
Pushed to the brink of defeat, Western came out swinging in game three, taking an early 3-2 lead. A four-point Trojan run was answered with three Lady Topper markers to even the score at 6-6. UALR then posted six of the next seven points to seize a five-point lead. WKU made one last rally, scoring three in a row to get within 12-10. The Trojans then stopped the Lady Topper surge and completed the victory with a 3-0 run of their own.
Western Kentucky will step out of conference play Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CDT) when it travels north to take on defending Conference USA co-champion Louisville at Cardinal Arena. It will be the first meeting between WKU and UL since 1996 and the match will represent a homecoming for six Lady Toppers who hail from the city of Louisville.
-- WKU --
