Sept. 3, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky volleyball team continued its hot start, posting two more three-game sweeps to claim the 2000 IUPUI Invitational championship Sunday night in Indianapolis. Junior left-side hitter Tara Thomas (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, and teammates Natalie Furry (Normal, Ill./Community) and Melissa Starck (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) were named to the all-tournament team.
The tournament championship is the first for Western since it won the 1999 Bruin Classic in Nashville, Tenn. It also marks the first time since 1982 that the Lady Toppers have opened a season with four consecutive wins.
In its first match of the day, Western took only one hour to dispatch Ohio, 15-8, 15-10, 15-2. Starck and Tara Thomas each pounded out a match-high 10 kills to lead the Lady Toppers to their first win over a Mid-American Conference school since Sept. 21, 1996. Senior defensive specialist Beaven Hill (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) added a match-best nine digs for WKU.
Ohio took a pair of one-point leads early in game one, but it would be the last time in the match the Bobcats would have the upper hand on the Lady Toppers. Western scored nine consecutive points to open up a 10-2 lead in the first game and later tallied five of the last six markers in win the opening frame. WKU then scored the first eight points in the second game and the first 13 points in game three to stay in control of the match. In the third game, Thomas was at the service line for the entire 13-point run, and the Lady Toppers held OU without a kill in the period to seal their third win of the tournament.
Ohio (2-2) finished with a (-.014) hitting percentage, marking the second time this season Western has held an opponent in the red for an entire contest.
In the tournament title match, Western outlasted a gritty IUPUI squad, 15-8, 15-11, 15-9. Junior middle hitter Jessica Willard (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) drilled a career-high 21 kills and tallied a career-best .679 hitting percentage, the third-highest mark in school history. Thomas chipped in with her first double-double of the season with 13 kills and a match-high 16 digs. As a unit, Western hit .318, signalling the fourth time in as many matches it has topped the .300 mark.
IUPUI (3-1) led early in all three games against the Lady Toppers, but WKU clawed its way back every time. In game one, the Lady Toppers scored 11 of the final 13 points to take the victory. Following several long sideout battles, Western put game two on their side of the ledger, scoring the last four points of the stanza. The Lady Toppers then mounted a 7-1 run midway through the third game to take the lead for good and clinch the tournament title.
Western Kentucky (4-0) will kick off the home portion of its 2000 schedule Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CDT) at E.A. Diddle Arena against defending Conference USA tri-champion Cincinnati. It will also be the Lady Toppers' only home match in the first three weeks of the season, as Western plays 13 of its first 14 contests on the road.
--WKU--
