WKU rebounded from a season-opening loss to Michigan to pick up a sweep (30-18, 30-25, 30-26) of Wright State in its final match of the day. Sophomore All-American middle hitter Megan Argabright rebounded from a slow first match to record a career-high 19 kills and a .516 hitting percentage in the victory over the Raiders.
The Lady Toppers hit a match-best .405 in game one as it stormed out to an early 13-5 lead. That would prove too more than enough cushion as the WKU lead grew to double digits when an Aquila Orr kill made it 20-10. The lead grew as high as 14 when Argabright’s fifth kill of the game made it 26-12 as WKU rolled to the 30-18 victory.
The two teams traded points at the start of game two, but an 8-3 Lady Topper run broke an 8-8 tie as WKU stretched its lead to five points on a Jenna Gideon kill. That would prove to be the difference in the game as the Lady Toppers led the remainder of the game. The Raiders were able to get within three when an Alisha Kimbro made it 19-16, but WKU regrouped with an Argabright kill and Julia Noe service ace to extend its lead once again. Wright State hung close, cutting the lead to 26-24 thanks to another Kimbro kill. However, the Lady Toppers closed on a 4-1 run to open up a two-game lead with a 30-25 victory.
The Lady Toppers led the first half of game three before Wright State scored four unanswered points to take a 16-15 lead. The game would see five ties and two lead changes before Argabright put WKU on top for good with a kill to make it 22-21. In fact, that started a 4-1 WKU run that stretched the lead to 25-22 and forced the Raiders into a timeout. The Lady Toppers led 28-24 after an Argabright kill, but Wright State scored two straight to cut the lead in half. WKU regrouped with an Argabright kill followed by a Kelly Hofmeyer service ace to finish off its first victory of the season.
Gideon also posted double-digit kills with 11, while Alli Christian posted nine kills. Ashley Deignan added a match-high 11 digs, while Noe posted a career-high 46 assists to go along with six kills and four digs.
WKU committed 28 errors and hit just .019 as it opened the year with a 3-0 loss (21-30, 27-30, 23-30) to Michigan in the first match of the day. The Lady Toppers never led at any point in the first two games, falling down 5-0 right away in game one as the Wolverines picked up a 30-21 victory.
After trading points at the start of the second game, a 6-1 Michigan run opened up an 11-5 lead. The Lady Toppers were able to battle back within a point when back-to-back service aces by Kelly Hofmeyer made it 12-11. UM pulled back out to a six-point lead when a Katie Bruzdzinski kill made it 24-18, but two kills by Argabright bookended run of five unanswered points for WKU to again make it a one-point game. The Lady Toppers founds themselves trailing by just one again (28-27) after a Gideon kill, but Michigan scored the final two points thanks to Lindsay Miller kills to win 30-27 and go up two games.
WKU registered just five kills in game three, but still found itself in a battle, leading 13-12 after another Argabright kill. However, the Wolverines scored five straight to pull out to a 17-13 lead that the Lady Toppers would never recover from. The Michigan lead grew as high as ten points late in the game before the Wolverines took a 30-23 victory to close out the match.
Orr led the Lady Toppers with nine kills and a .471 hitting percentage in her debut, while Gideon and Whitney McCory posted six kills each. Hofmeyer recorded a team-high 11 digs for WKU. Bruzdzinski posted a match-high 15 kills to pace the Wolverines.
The Lady Toppers will wrap up play in the Rocket Volleyball Classic on Saturday with a pair of matches. WKU will take on defending America East Conference champion Binghamton at 9 a.m. (CDT), then close out the weekend against host Toledo at 2 p.m.
