Box Score (PDF)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - In a rematch of the 2015 Conference USA Tournament championship tilt, WKU Volleyball came out on top again in a four-set battle over UTSA from San Antonio. Rachel Anderson's career-high 20 kill outing and .633 hitting clip led the way for the Lady Toppers in their 13th-consecutive victory.
With the win, WKU has improved to 22-2 on the 2016 season and remains a perfect 9-0 in league action. The victory in San Antonio also marked UTSA's first loss on its home court this season. The Roadrunners fell to 15-5 overall and 6-2 in C-USA matchups.
"I am just really proud of our kids' toughness today," opened WKU head coach Travis Hudson. "To play a team like UTSA on the back end of this road trip and drop game one and yet find a way to win says a lot about our players."
In the opening set of the day, the Lady Toppers battled with the Roadrunners before the hosts eventually clinched the set 30-28. WKU trailed by as many as seven points in the set but fought back and knotted the action at 15-15. UTSA took a late 22-20 lead to force a WKU stoppage and the Lady Toppers went on to fight off four-consecutive Roadrunner set points. Eventually, UTSA fired off the final two points, handing the Red and White just their fifth first-set loss on the 2016 season.
WKU responded with a 25-18 second-frame victory from the Convocation Center over UTSA. The Lady Toppers trailed early but used a four-point run to pull within 11-12 and force a Roadrunner stoppage. After claiming five of the next seven points, WKU owned a 16-14 lead and didn't look back. The Lady Toppers led by as many as eight points at 24-16 before tying the match a few points later at one set apiece.
Third-set action from San Antonio favored the Lady Toppers as WKU led the frame from start to finish. The Red and White owned as much as a 10-point lead in the stanza while hitting a match-best .226. Anderson led the Lady Toppers offensively with three kills in the set as WKU claimed another 25-18 victory over UTSA. The Roadrunners were held to a .000 attack rate with 11 errors against 11 kills in the set.
The Lady Toppers secured the four-set victory with another 25-18 win over UTSA in the final frame. Anderson registered seven of WKU's 16 kills in the final set, hitting .700 in the frame. Georgia O'Connell tallied eight digs in the frame on the defensive end. After a couple ties early on, WKU put the contest out of reach using a four-point run to go up 11-7. UTSA used its final stop down 15-9 and the Lady Toppers never looked back. WKU hit .214 as a team in the final set while limiting UTSA to just a .025 efficiency rate.
Anderson led the way for WKU with a career effort offensively. The sophomore accounted to 20 kills while working at a .633 clip and recording just one attack error on 30 swings. Anderson also contributed four blocks in the contest. Entering the match, Anderson needed just three kills to reach the 500-kill milestone of her career, which she accomplished in the first set.
Also working into double-digit kills on the afternoon was Alyssa Cavanaugh with 12 kills. Additionally, Cavanaugh tallied a career-high seven digs in the outing.
Junior setter Jessica Lucas recorded her ninth double-double performance of the season with a 39-assist, 18-dig effort against UTSA. Lucas also contributed six kills, four blocks and a service ace in the Lady Topper victory.
Nine Lady Toppers registered at least one dig in the victory, led by O'Connell who matched her season high at 23. Sydney Engle added 11 digs while Kaelin Grimes and Cavanaugh each chipped in seven.
"I thought our senior defensive players, Georgia [O'Connell] and Kaelin [Grimes], were terrific today in leading us and playing high-level defensive," stated Hudson.
Amara Listenbee produced a trio of solo stops in the match while adding three kills as well.
WKU finished with five service aces in the match off the hand of five different Lady Toppers. Lucas, Engle, Grimes, O'Connell and Emma Kowalkowski each had a tally in the category.
Overall, the Red and White worked at a .185 offensive clip while limiting UTSA to its lowest mark of the season at .077.
Halfway through its final regular-season road stretch, WKU will head to Marshall for a Friday night match before visiting UAB on Sunday for the second 2016 matchup between the sides. Matches will start at 5 p.m. CT and noon CT, respectively.
