BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Western Kentucky University volleyball team will play its final non-conference tournament of the season this weekend when it travels to St. Louis for the Billiken Invitational, hosted by St. Louis University.
WKU opens with Marshall in a 4:30 p.m. matchup on Friday, followed by a noon matchup with Lipscomb and a 7 p.m. contest with host St. Louis on Saturday. All matches will be played at Chaifetz Pavilion.
The Lady Toppers are 8-3 on the season and have won eight of their last night matches, including three straight. Over the weekend, WKU picked up wins over No. 27 Missouri, Tennessee Tech and Central Arkansas. Junior Tiffany Elmore leads the team with a .399 hitting percentage, 2.97 kills per set and 1.08 blocks per set. Sophomore libero Sarah Rogers paces the defense with 3.49 digs per set.
"I am very pleased to be 8-3," WKU coach Travis Hudson said. "I am not overly pleased with how we are playing yet, and I think that is a good thing. I still don't think we have really hit our stride yet and played like we are in a rhythm. I do think our last match against Central Arkansas was probably the most complete effort we have put out and so I am encouraged and hoping that is where we are headed.
"With this being the last weekend going into conference play, I just want to see us really doing the things on our side of the net that we are capable of doing. It's not so much about who we are playing this weekend, I just want to see us doing things on a more consistent basis."
Marshall enters the weekend with a 4-5 overall record after falling in a midweek game against in-state rival West Virginia, 3-0, on Tuesday night. Prior to the match against the Mountaineers, the Thundering Herd had won four of its last five matches. Last weekend, Marshall picked up a pair of victories against North Carolina A&T and Morehead State as part of the Marshall Play Day Tri-Match. Freshman Laura Der leads the team with 3.32 digs per set and senior Elizabeth Fleming is tops with 9.43 assists per set. Both have recorded three double-doubles on the season.
Lipscomb improved its 2010 record to 9-2 with a win over conference foe Belmont on Tuesday night in Nashville, Tenn. Lipscomb pulled out the victory, 3-1. The Lady Bisons have won seven in a row including a sweep of the Gamecock Invitational last weekend in Columbia, S.C. The Lady Bisons are led by senior middle blocker Alex Kelly who is first in the conference in hitting percentage (.347), kills (4.43 per set) and points (5.18 per set). Lipscomb's only defeats of the season came against Kansas (9-2) and Purdue (8-1).
St. Louis will be hosting its second tournament of the season and comes into the event with a 3-6 record on the young season. The Billikens have lost three of their last four matches coming into the tournament with their lone win, a 3-0 victory, coming against Utah on Saturday in Springfield, Mo. Junior Alyssa Deno leads the team with 134 kills (3.72 per set) while freshmen Andrea Beaty and Hannah Kvitle have also been crucial, Beaty with 0.69 blocks per set and Kvitle pacing the team with a .306 hitting percentage.
"When we put this tournament together at the beginning of the year, everything is based on strength from the previous year and this was the No. 27 (St. Louis), No. 36 (Lipscomb) and No. 80 (Marshall) team in the country in the RPI to finish last season," Hudson said. "They are all three quality opponents and they are all three extremely well coached. Each and every one of those will be a challenge and we think it will be really good competition for us to prepare ourselves for conference play."
The Lady Toppers have a combined all-time record of 8-5 against the three teams, with wins against Marshall and St. Louis in their last meetings.
For complete results and a recap of this weekend's action, please visit WKUSports.com. Live stats will also be available on the site.
Match Notes
