BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University volleyball team suffered only its second home loss of the season Tuesday night, falling 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 21-25, 24-26) to No. 23 Cincinnati at E.A. Diddle Arena.
The loss is only the second for WKU (19-5) in its last 15 matches. The Lady Toppers were limited to a .234 hitting percentage while committing 21 attack errors.
"We played hard," WKU coach Travis Hudson said. "We certainly had some mental lapses that hurt us throughout the match but we certainly didn't lack effort. It is very disappointing because our effort level gave us a chance in every game but it comes down to people being solid focus wise, doing their job and stepping up and making plays in the end, and we just didn't have enough of that.
"You don't get to make many mistakes against Top-25 teams and we certainly made too many."
The Bearcats (18-4) used a strong offensive attack, posting a .293 hitting percentage and recording 49 kills. Cincinnati Senior Stephanie Niemer tallied 24 kills while sophomore Jordanne Scott had 15 kills and freshman Juliana Refenes finished with 11.
"I think we are a Top-25 caliber team ourselves," Hudson said. "I think we've proven it throughout the season and Cincinnati has been in the Top 25 and they are certainly very much deserving of being there and certainly I think everybody that was here tonight knows that we belonged on that court. In the end they made more plays then we did, there go-to players made more plays than our go-to players, and that is the story of match."
Senior Emily Teegarden led the WKU offense with a season-high 16 kills. Sophomore Jordyn Skinner finished the night with 11 kills followed by redshirt freshman Paige Wessel with 10. Junior Lindsey Williams tallied nine kills and a team-high .471 hitting percentage.
Defensively, sophomore libero Sarah Rogers led the team with 18 digs. Skinner added 16 digs to record her third double-double of the season and second in two games. Freshman Melanie Stutsman posted eight digs and 47 assists. Teegarden also led the team with six total blocks, three of which were solo.
The two teams battled from the beginning as the first set featured 11 ties and six lead changes. Tied at 14-14, WKU went on a 4-0 run to edge in front 18-14. Cincinnati closed the game to 19-16 before the Lady Toppers scored five of the next seven points to force game point. The Bearcats fought off three game points before a kill from Skinner put WKU in front 1-0.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 14-13 lead in the second set and continued to maintain that lead, building to a 21-10 advantage. WKU then rallied with a 10-2 run to close within three at 20-23. Back-to-back kills by Niemer evened up the match.
The third set saw the Bearcats take another lead but the Lady Toppers battled back to force eight ties in the early going. With the set tied at 18-18, Cincinnati tallied five of the next six points to take a 23-19 lead and closed out the 25-21 win on a kill by Refenes.
The fourth set went back and forth between the two teams the entire way, seeing 15 ties and eight lead changes. At 24-24, Cincinnati tallied the final two points to take the match 3-1.
The Lady Toppers return to Sun Belt Conference play this weekend when they host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. Friday and Louisiana-Monroe at 5 p.m. Saturday. Both matches will be played at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Rankings are based on the American Volleyball Coaches Association collegiate volleyball rankings released Monday.
WKU-Cincinnati Box
