Nov. 8, 2002
Jonesboro, Ark. - The Western Kentucky volleyball team clinched its third straight Sun Belt Conference East Division title with a 3-0 win over Arkansas State Friday night at Nettleton High School. The 32-30, 30-26, 30-23 win was the 13th straight win for WKU.
In the opening game, the Lady Toppers (27-4, 11-0) fought off a game point at 29-28 to get the 32-30 win despite leading 5-0 to start the game. Crystal Towler (Fr., Sussex, Wis.) began the rally with a kill off the Lady Indians block to tie the game at 29. After ASU hit the ball out, Cynda Derbort (Jr., Maroa, Ill.) got a kill on an over pass by ASU. Arkansas State tied the game at 30 on a kill by Miranda Griffin. Jessie Wagner (Fr., Franklin, Ind.) gave the Lady Toppers their second match point with a kill after freshman defensive specialist Abby Borror (Fr., New Castle, Ind.) made a diving dig to keep the rally going. Up 31-30, Western took advantage of a passing error to get the win.
In a tight second game, WKU scored six straight points to win 30-26. Amanda Schiff (So., Indianapolis, Ind.) and Derbort each had five kills as Western hit .350 in the game to power its way to the win. With the teams trading the lead back-and-forth, the visiting Lady Toppers found themselves down 26-24. Towler tied the game for Western with back-to-back kills and Wagner gave the team the lead at 27-26. After a pair of errors by Arkansas State gave WKU game point, Wagner closed out the game with a kill.
In the game three, the contest was tight until Western took control with a 6-1 spurt to break open an 11-11 contest. The run, which gave WKU a 17-12 lead, was sparked by an Amanda Cecil (So., Louisville, Ky.) kill. Errors by the Lady Indians and kills by Towler and Wagner gave the Lady Toppers the 5-point advantage. After a timeout by the hosts, Western pushed the lead to 21-14 after kills by Wagner and Schiff. WKU went on to win 30-23.
Schiff finished with a match-high 16 kills, while Towler and Cecil had 11 and 10 kills respectively. Noe had a double-double with 48 assists and 10 digs. Tracy May (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) had 14 digs for a match high.
The Lady Toppers will visit Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday night before facing Middle Tennessee on Tuesday in their final home game of the season. The match will be played in E.A. Diddle Arena. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
