Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- WKU volleyball extended its current winning streak to 12 matches Friday evening by defeating league-foe UTSA (11-6, 3-1 C-USA) in four sets (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-20).
In front of a huge crowd of 1,587 in E.A. Diddle Arena, the Lady Toppers showed tremendous toughness throughout the intense battle of the last two undefeated teams in C-USA.
"I'm really proud of our effort tonight," WKU head coach Travis Hudson said. "UTSA is a really good team and they don't beat themselves, you have to beat them."
WKU (18-2, 5-0 C-USA) was led offensively by the trio of Noelle Langenkamp, Alyssa Cavanaugh and Haley Bodway as all three Lady Tops recorded double-digit kills on the evening. As a team, WKU laid down a season-high 67 kills.
Langenkamp led the way with a tremendous 17-kill effort, which fell just one shy of her season-high, 18- kill performance registered against Missouri State earlier in the year. The veteran was also one of WKU's most accurate hitters, finishing with a .334 hitting clip.
Cavanaugh added 16 while Bodway came through in the clutch, recording eight of her 15 total kills in the crucial third and fourth sets of the match. Bodway finished second on the team with a .367 hitting percentage as the veteran laid down her 15 kills off 30 attacks.
"Bodway was tremendous tonight," Hudson said. "She has struggled through some portions of our schedule but I knew I had to stick with her because I know what type of player she can be. These past four or five matches have really showed how good she can be."
WKU setter Jessica Lucas did a fantastic job of facilitating the WKU offensive attack as the sophomore registered a career-high 53 assists on her way to her ninth double-double of the season. The Indiana-native also added 13 digs and flirted with another triple-double as she recorded seven kills on team-high .462 hitting.
UTSA used its height advantage to their advantage throughout much of the match as the Roadrunners finished with 13 total team blocks compared to WKU's four. In UTSA's 25-16 triumph in the second set, the Roadrunners limited the Lady Toppers to just .054 hitting thanks in large part to controlling the nets up front, registering four team blocks on the stanza.
WKU libero Georgia O'Connell registered her 1,000th career dig early in the match, earning a nice ovation from the WKU faithful.
The junior went on to produce a tremendous defensive outing for the Lady Toppers, finishing with a match-high 20 digs. In addition to Lucas and O'Connell, Rachel Engle also finished with double-digit kills as the senior punched in 10 on the contest.
"The crowd was tremendous and we needed every one last of them," Hudson said. "It was a great match and hopefully it will inspire them to come back Sunday as we'll need them when we take on a good Southern Miss team."
First-place WKU returns to action Sunday afternoon as the Lady Toppers once again host another critical C-USA contest inside E.A. Diddle Arena as second-place Southern Miss (17-5, 4-1 C-USA) comes to Bowling Green for a 12 p.m. CT. match.
