Tournament Central
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-The Western Kentucky University volleyball team (7-2) used a three-set sweep (25-20, 25-18, 25-13) to get by Tennessee Tech (1-6) Friday morning to open its play in the WKU Tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Sophomore Heather Boyan put up 10 kills and three blocks to lead the Lady Toppers while junior Melanie Stutsman followed with six kills and 37 assists. Junior Ashley Potts helped keep rallies alive for WKU, as she posted 15 digs in the match.
For TTU, Natalie Penrod collected nine kills followed by Ellen Conti's eight. Kelsey Gray grabbed six blocks while Courtney Smith added 12 digs.
Set one started out in favor of TTU, as after being down 4-2, four-straight attack errors by WKU put TTU ahead 6-4. Out of a WKU timeout, kills from Stutsman and Boyan gave WKU a 10-7 advantage before the home team pulled away from the Golden Eagles 21-15. However, TTU wasn't going away easily after it put up a 6-0 run to get within 22-20, but WKU sealed the win 25-20 after capping the set with three-straight points.
Starting similar to the first frame, TTU jumped ahead 5-1 over WKU after four attack errors on the Lady Toppers. TTU got as much as a three-point lead before WKU regrouped to get its first advantage of the set at 13-12 to force a TTU timeout. Out of the break, WKU gained strength with kills from Boyan, Stutsman and freshman Haley Bodway that pushed the team ahead 23-15 before taking the win 25-18.
The final set started close for both teams before WKU put together a 5-1 scoring spree to go ahead 13-9 at a TTU break. Another big run of 8-1 for WKU led the Lady Toppers to a 23-12 scoring favor. Winning the third contest 25-13, WKU had its best set of the match, as the team hit .375 with 16 kills compared to TTU's .094 with seven kills.
WKU finishes day one of the WKU Tournament at 7 p.m. against No. 10 Dayton.
