BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University volleyball team enters the Sun Belt Conference tournament as the No. 2 seed and opens play Thursday with a noon matchup against No. 7 seed Louisiana-Lafayette at Alumni Memorial Gym in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
WKU (25-7, 14-2) has advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament 12 years in a row, beginning in 1998. Last season, the Lady Toppers defeated Denver in the quarterfinals, 3-1, before falling to Middle Tennessee in the semifinals at E.A. Diddle Arena.
"We've had a tremendous year to this point," WKU coach Travis Hudson said. "And we are looking forward to what we think will be a very competitive, very exciting, conference tournament."
The last time the SBC Tournament was played in Murfreesboro, WKU came home with its third conference tournament title. The Lady Toppers defeated the Blue Raiders, 3-2, in the championship match.
Louisiana-Lafayette (17-15, 7-9) dropped a pair of matches this weekend in Arkansas. ULL was swept by UALR 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 25-27) and Arkansas State (15-25, 23-25, 19-25).
Still, the Cajuns qualified for their first Sun Belt Conference Tournament appearance since 2002. Louisiana-Lafayette has recorded their best season since 2002 and the most home wins (10) since 1989.
"They are maybe the most improved team in our league this year and we handled them pretty well here in Bowling Green but we don't anticipate it being as easy as it was then," Hudson said. "(Coach Heather Mazeitis) has done a great job with that team and the fact that they have gone and put themselves in as the seventh seed, is a real step forward for their program and we respect the challenge that is in front of us."
Leading the way for ULL's offense is junior Lesley Mirarchi. She has posted a 358 kills for an average of 3.01 kills per set. Mirarchi also leads ULL with 103 total blocks for 0.87 blocks per set. Senior Lindsay Brown has 10 digs over the weekend, moving her season total to 596. Brown is just three digs away from the ULL single-season record.
WKU leads the all-time series with Louisiana-Lafayette 19-4 after picking up a 3-0 win earlier this season at E. A. Diddle Arena. The Lady Toppers have won 13 straight matches against the Ragin'Cajuns.
The two teams have faced each other twice in Sun Belt tournament action. In 1991, WKU defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 3-0 in Jonesboro, Ark., and in 2001 the Lady Toppers picked up a 3-1 win in Denver, Colo.
"We understand the challenge that is ahead of us," Hudson said. "And I think the one day at a time thing gets used way to much this time of year, but I would just tell you that we are going to go down there and focus on us and try to be the best that WKU can be and we will find out where that leads us."
The winner will face either No. 3 seed FIU or No. 6 seed Denver in Friday's semifinal match. Thursday's other action will include No. 1 seed Middle Tennessee against No. 8 seed South Alabama at 5 p.m. followed by No. 4 Arkansas State vs. No. 5 North Texas at 7:30 p.m.
Match Notes
