Nov. 9, 2002
Little Rock, Ark. - The Western Kentucky volleyball team faced a 2-0 deficit five times, but rallied back each time to down Sun Belt Conference rival Arkansas-Little Rock 3-1 Saturday night. WKU improved to 28-4 overall and 12-0 in the Sun Belt as it won its 14th straight match to clinch the top seed in the conference tournament.
In game two Western erased five game points to even the match at one. Freshman Crystal Towler (Sussex, Wis.) keyed the Western come from behind win. The freshman outside hitter had nine kills, three block assists and most importantly two aces. Down 32-31, Towler gave the Lady Toppers back the serve with a kill off an UALR block. She then had back-to-back aces to win the game.
Western trailed through most of the second game as the Lady Trojans jumped out to a 9-4 advantage. The Lady Toppers twice led by two at 13-11 and 20-18 when UALR was called for a ball-handling error, and held a 25-24 advantage on a kill by Jessie Wagner (Fr., Franklin, Ind.), who had five kills in the game. The blocking of the Lady Trojans led by Ivana Kuzmic. Kuzmic the nation's leader in blocks gave her team a 27-26 with a solo block. A WKU hitting error made it a 2-point game. Kuzmic had four of her team's 11 total blocks in the first two games.
The third game saw Western come out of the locker room smoking offensively and take a 2-1 lead with a 30-23 victory. The Lady Toppers, who had hit .162 in the first two games, hit .324 in game three. For the first time in the match, Western jumped out to the early lead. After finding itself down 9-4 in each of the first two games, the Lady Toppers led 3-1 and trailed only once at 6-5. Three consecutive kills by Towler, who had five kills in the game, gave the visitors a 10-7 lead. After UALR pulled to within 12-11, Wagner put down a hard kill and Cynda Derbort (Jr., Maroa, Ill.) added an ace to start a 6-2 run. Amanda Schiff (So., Indianapolis, Ind.) had six kills in the game.
In game four, the Lady Toppers again jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and saw it lead close to three just once at 15-12 after a UALR block. The Lady Trojans finished with 19 blocks, which matched a season-high for a WKU opponent. Derbort led the Lady Toppers with five kills in the deciding game.
In the opening game, Western fell 30-25 as UALR used strong serving and blocking to earn the game advantage. After falling behind 9-4 early, the Lady Toppers rallied after a timeout to take a 11-9 lead on a block by Derbort and Towler. The Lady Trojans responded with a 7-2 run to take a 16-13 lead. Western would pull within a point twice more the last time at 20-19 but could get no closer.
For the game, Towler was nearly perfect with 19 kills on 35 attempts and just one error. She finished with three aces and a team high five blocks. Wagner added 17 kills and Schiff had 15. Setter Sara Noe (Sr. Louisville, Ky.) had 67 assists as WKU finished with 73 kills. Tracy May (Jr., Louisville, Ky.) and Amanda Cecil (So., Louisville, Ky.) finished with 22 and 14 digs respectively.
Western returns home for its final home match of the season on Tuesday when they face Middle Tennessee on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in E.A. Diddle Arena.
-- WKU --
