Sept. 12, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - For the first time all season, the Western Kentucky University volleyball team lost the first game of a match. But the Lady Toppers bounced back well, winning the next three frames in convincing fashion to earn a 3-1 (9-15, 15-9, 15-4, 15-7) win over Austin Peay Tuesday night at Dave Aaron Arena in Clarksville, Tenn. The victory is the first for WKU in Clarksville since Nov. 1, 1993, and it gives the Lady Toppers the best 10-match start in school history with an 8-2 record.
Junior left-side hitter Tara Thomas (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) rang up a match-high 25 kills and 14 digs to notch her fifth double-double of the season. Junior middle hitter Jessica Willard (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) added 18 kills and junior outside hitter Natalie Furry (Normal, Ill./Normal Community HS) tallied 15 kills and a season-high 14 digs for her second double-double of the season. The Lady Toppers hit .309 for the match, marking the seventh time in 10 contests they have topped the 30-percent mark.
Senior left-side hitter Melissa Starck (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) reached her second milestone in as many matches, rifling three aces to pass Jamie Ritterskamp for the top spot on the WKU career aces chart. Starck now has 159 singles in her tenure on the Hill.
The first game was tight much of the way with neither team leading by more than three points. A 5-1 run by Western gave the Lady Toppers a 9-8 lead, but Austin Peay came right back, scoring the last seven points of the game to take a 15-9 win.
WKU was in control throughout most of game two. Trailing 3-2, the Lady Toppers tallied seven of the next eight markers to take a 9-4 lead. The Lady Govs never got closer than three points after that, as Western evened the match with a 15-9 game victory.
The tide turned in game three, when the Lady Toppers inserted freshman defensive specialist Tracy May (Louisville, Ky./Assumption HS) as a left-side hitter. The WKU rookie knocked down a pair of kills and sparked the Lady Toppers to a 9-0 lead out of the gate. After APSU closed to within 11-4, Western scored four in a row to close out a 15-4 game win and take a one-game lead in the match. May would finish the night by chalking up her first career double-double, logging 10 kills, 14 digs and a .450 hitting percentage.
The Lady Toppers went on top from the outset of the fourth game, but the Lady Govs hung tough and trailed by just a 6-5 count midway through the stanza. Thomas and Furry then stepped forward and drilled three kills each to ignite an 8-2 game-ending run that put the win on WKU's side of the ledger.
Western Kentucky (8-2) will next take the court at 4 p.m. (CDT) Friday when it squares off with Central Florida at the Raider Challenge in Dayton, Ohio.
-- WKU --
