Final Stats | Box Score (PDF) | Hudson Post-Match Interview
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - With today's 3-0 sweep of the Charlotte 49ers, the WKU Volleyball program has now won 40-consecutive conference matchups at the E.A. Diddle Arena dating back to 2011. A career day of 15 kills by Taylor Dellinger in the win helped the Lady Toppers extend their win streak to five matches.
Today's 3-0 win marks the eighth sweep of the season for WKU as it improves to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA play. Charlotte dropped to 6-10 with the loss, including a 0-2 reading against conference opposition.
"I'm really pleased with how hard we played today, but we didn't play really well," opened head coach Travis Hudson. "Charlotte played really, really hard in this match too. The thing that sticks out to me is that we played hard and that's a great place to start every time."
WKU got off to a quick 4-2 lead over Charlotte in the opening set and after the final tie of the frame at 10-10, owned an advantage the rest of the way to a 25-17 victory. The Lady Toppers utilized 19 first-set kills against just four hitting errors for a .349 hitting clip in the frame. Dellinger finished with eight kills in the opening set including three-straight tallies to give WKU a 9-6 advantage early on.
"Taylor is a talented kid that really has struggled for a portion of this season coming off of her injury," Hudson stated. "As she has a little success, I think you'll see her play start to get a little better because once her confidence comes back, I think everybody will see the talent that she has."
Set two saw 12 ties between the sides in addition to eight lead changes. The Lady Toppers finished with 16 kills in the frame against just 10 by Charlotte and went on to pull out the win in a 26-24 fashion to take a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room. Emma Kowalkowski served up three aces in the set for the second-consecutive match; including the ace that gave WKU a 25-24 lead. Dellinger, Sydney Engle and Alyssa Cavanaugh each accounted for four kills in the set.
Three sets would be all the Lady Toppers needed to take down the visiting Charlotte 49ers as WKU clinched the victory with a 25-20 third-set win. After Charlotte pulled within one point down 10-11, WKU called a timeout and went on a 5-0 run out of the stoppage to put the contest out of reach. The run extended to WKU scoring 10 of the next 12 points for a 21-12 advantage. Eventually, a kill by Cavanaugh closed the book on the match, as the junior outside hitter registered her 11th kill of the contest.
Dellinger (15) and Cavanaugh (11) were the two Lady Toppers with double-digit kills on the day while Engle recorded seven kills and 11 digs.
"She's just a kid that we've come to depend on; she's at that point in her career as a junior," Hudson said of Cavanaugh. "She knows we need it from her every night and she's certainly answered the bell."
Cavanaugh has now recorded double-digit kills in eight-straight matches and in all but one match on the season.
Jessica Lucas finished the day with 36 assists, 14 digs, six kills and two service aces while turning in a .429 attack percentage.
Amara Listenbee led WKU at the net with a trio of block assists. Cavanaugh chipped in a pair of her own while Engle added a solo stop and a block assist. Rachel Anderson rounded out the WKU blocking with a solo stop in her stats column.
Georgia O'Connell led three Lady Toppers into double-digit dig outings with 19. Lucas contributed 14 with Engle adding 11 more. Kaelin Grimes registered seven digs while Kowalkowski posted five.
WKU is now 18-0 against Conference USA opponents on its home court since joining the league prior to the 2014 campaign. In its 40-match win streak against conference opponents at home, WKU has tallied 32 sweeps while just two contests have taken all five sets.
"If you're going to win championships like we have through the years, you have got to protect your home court and we've been able to do that through the years and certainly will be important moving forward."
Next up for the Red and White is a trip south to Louisiana Tech on Friday, Sept. 30, which is slated for a 7 p.m. CT opening serve. WKU while then visit Middle Tennessee on Sunday for a 1 p.m. CT start.
