Murfreesboro, Tenn. After falling in three consecutive matches, the WKU volleyball team battled until the last point but ultimately fell to #30 Middle Tennessee 3-2 (27-25, 25-23, 20-25, 17-25, 15-11). With the loss, the Lady Toppers are now 14-9 overall this season and 3-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. With the win, Middle Tennessee improves to 17-3 overall and 7-1 in the SBC.
In the first set, Middle Tennessee struck first but the Lady Toppers scored the next two points off a kill by senior Julia Noe and an error by Middle Tennessee. After staying close through much of the set, the Lady Toppers exploded offensively scoring five consecutive points to take the lead 11-5. Middle Tennessee retied the set at 24 after outscoring the Lady Toppers 19-13 but WKU wouldn't go down without a fight securing the win after kills by junior Brittany Bowen and senior Megan Argabright.
The second set was also a fight until the end as the two teams exchanged the lead back and forth through 12 points. Then, WKU took the lead off a service error by the Blue Raiders to make it 13-12 and the Lady Toppers would never lose control taking set two off two straight attack errors by the Blue Raiders.
Sets three and four belonged to the Blue Raiders as the team collected 13 kills and finished with a .379 hitting percentage in set three and 14 kills and a .524 hitting percentage in set four. In set four, the Blue Raiders jumped out to an early 8-3 lead and never lost control rebounding from the first two losses and forcing a final set that would decide the outcome of the match.
Finally in set five, WKU got on the board first but Middle Tennessee tied up the set at one after an error by WKU. From there, Middle Tennessee blew past the Lady Toppers winning the set and the match.
The Lady Toppers were led by Argabright who tallied 16 kills, a .393 hitting percentage and five blocks. After posting 17, 14 and 15 kills in the first three sets, the Lady Toppers lost momentum in the fourth and fifth sets posting only 16 kills in the two sets.
Overall for WKU, the Lady Toppers posted 62 kills, 31 attack errors, 44 digs, nine blocks, five aces and 60 assists while finishing with a .205 hitting percentage. Middle Tennessee also finished with 62 kills but only posted 21 errors for a .301 hitting percentage. Additionally, the Blue Raiders also recorded 46 digs, 20 blocks, two aces and 57 assists.
The Lady Toppers will return to the court on Friday night for a three-match home swing. First up will be ULM on Friday night at 7 p.m, on Saturday the Lady Toppers will face New Orleans at 5 p.m. and on Sunday at 1 p.m. WKU will take on Louisiana-Lafayette.
WKU
