Box Score (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Behind Jessica Lucas' 10th-double double performance of the season and 17 Alyssa Cavanaugh kills, WKU Volleyball won its 15-consecutive match in Sunday's sweep of UAB in Birmingham. The Lady Toppers remained perfect on the road, improving to 11-0.
WKU won its 24th match of the season with the sweep at the Bartow Arena, improving to 24-2 on the 2016 season. The Lady Toppers also remained perfect in league play, climbing to 11-0. UAB fell to 11-16 overall and 3-8 in Conference USA action with the loss.
"We're excited about our weekend," WKU head coach Travis Hudson shared. "That's a stretch of four-straight wins on the road. UAB played really well in set one and we withstood that and controlled the match from that point forward."
After jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead in the opening set of the match, WKU worked to an eventual 25-21 victory and never trailed in the frame. Cavanaugh led the WKU effort with nine first-set kills while the Lady Toppers produced 20 team kills in route to a .415 hitting percentage. The Red and White led by as many as four point on multiple occasions in the frame.
Second-set action again saw the Lady Toppers jump out to an early lead as UAB was forced to use an early timeout down 1-6. WKU went on to claim the next four points out of the stoppage, which resulted in UAB's second timeout of the frame at 10-1. Four Rachel Anderson kills in the span of five serves helped the Lady Toppers to a 16-6 lead in the set. WKU went on to win the set 25-11, marking the fewest points UAB scored in a set to 25 during the 2016 campaign. The Red and White limited the Blazers to just two kills in the frame against 10 errors for a -.258 hitting clip in the frame.
UAB was able to get on the board first in set three, but WKU followed with a five-point run to take a 5-1 lead that it would not relinquish. The Blazers opted for a timeout down 5-12 but WKU would continue to dominate, eventually working to a 20-10 lead in the frame. WKU went on to win the set 25-16 for its fourth sweep in its last five matches.
WKU hit at a .385 rate in the match with 52 kills against just 12 attack errors on 104 attacks. The Lady Topper defense stifled the Blazers, limiting the hosts to just 25 total kills in the match and 12 attack errors for a .137 offensive clip.
Cavanaugh led all players with 17 kills in the contest while Anderson produced 12 kills while working at a .526 hitting percentage. Sydney Engle and Taylor Dellinger each contributed seven kills followed by Amara Listenbee who added five strikes on six swings.
In addition to her seven kills, Engle added 11 digs and matched her career high of seven assists.
Lucas led everyone with 12 digs to go along with her 36 assists as the junior worked to her 10th double-double outing of the season. Lucas also added four kills of her own on 10 attempts and a block.
Joining Engle and Lucas with double-digit digs was Georgia O'Connell, who posted 10 digs along with a pair of assists. Emma Kowalkowski chipped in eight digs while Kaelin Grimes added five. Grimes also accounted for WKU's lone service ace on the day.
At the net, a trio of Lady Toppers tallied two blocks in Birmingham, including Cavanaugh, Anderson and Listenbee.
WKU will close regular-season action from its own E.A. Diddle Arena with three matches remaining on the docket. In the upcoming week, the Lady Toppers will take on Rice Friday night at 6 p.m. CT and then turn around and host Middle Tennessee in a 2:30 p.m. CT contest on Saturday.
