NEW ORLEANS – The WKU volleyball team defeated New Orleans 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11) on Saturday night to improve to 18-7 this season and 7-3 in the Sun Belt Conference. With the loss, New Orleans fell to 14-8 overall and 7-3 in the SBC.
In set one, the Lady Toppers struggled on offense recording a .0.80 hitting percentage after posting six errors and just eight kills. Up 11-10, New Orleans tied the set up after a kill by Lindsey Loyd. Then, New Orleans scored the next seven points to take a 17-11 lead. From, there the Privateers led the rest of the day and won the set after another kill by Loyd.
The Lady Toppers recovered in the second set posting their best hitting percentage of the night, a .355 hitting percentage after tallying 15 kills and just four errors. In the same situation as set one, the Lady Toppers went ahead 11-10 after an attack error by New Orleans. This time, it was WKU who went on a scoring run scoring the five points to go ahead 16-11. The Lady Toppers were then able to hold on to their lead and won the set after a kill by sophomore Tiffany Elmore.
WKU took a 2-1 lead in the match after recording another 15 kills in set three. After falling behind 2-0 to start the set, WKU tied the set up at two after a kill by senior Abbie Siljendahl. From there, New Orleans and WKU battled it out before the Lady Toppers took their final lead of the night at 18-17 after a ball handling error by the Privateers. WKU then won the set off another kill by Elmore.
New Orleans went on to win set four after dominating the entire set. With the set tied at five, the Privateers took a 6-5 after following a service ace and won the set after a kill by Anett Farkas. But in set five, WKU came from behind to win the match after trailing early in the set. After tying the set up at ten, WKU took the 11-10 lead after an ace by sophomore Lauren Stuckel and held on for the win after an attack error by New Orleans.
In the match, the Lady Toppers were led by sophomore Lindsay Williams and Siljendahl. Williams finished the night with a team-high 14 kills and a .346 hitting percentage while Siljendahl finished the match with nine kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Stuckel finished the night with 48 assists to lead the team while freshman Sarah Rogers posted 18 digs in the match. Siljendahl also finished the night leading the team in blocks with six.
As a team, WKU racked up 61 kills, a .211 hitting percentage, 51 assists, six aces, 52 digs and 18 blocks. WKU will continue play tomorrow when they travel to Lafayette, La. for a meeting with Louisiana-Lafayette at 1 p.m. CDT.
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