BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - In their first match from the confines of the E.A. Diddle Arena in 2016, the Lady Toppers took care of business Tuesday night, sweeping the previously undefeated Belmont Bruins. WKU improved to 7-1 on the young season while Belmont dropped to 6-1.
"We sure played hard and I'll take that any day," shared head coach Travis Hudson following Tuesday's win. "It's been nice to get back home. Like I mentioned in the preseason, we're not a very deep team so not having to get on the road and travel is helping us get some rest in."
First-set action saw the Bruins get on the scoreboard first, but the Lady Toppers responded to knot the match on the next point and followed that by taking a lead they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the set. The Red and White closed the set with 14 kills on 29 swings for a .310 hitting clip while limiting the visitors to just a .143 mark. WKU went on to win the opening frame 25-19.
In the second set, the two sides registered nine ties with the final one coming as the teams entered double digits. In the end, WKU worked ahead to claim the second set 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set three saw the Lady Toppers win by their biggest margin of the night in a 25-15 fashion. WKU held the Bruins to a .000 hitting percentage in the final frame and an overall .085 mark on the evening.
Rachel Anderson and Alyssa Cavanaugh led the Lady Toppers with eight kills apiece in the match, followed by seven off the hands of Taylor Dellinger. WKU hit .287 on the night including 37 total kills. Jessica Lucas finished with 28 assists in the match while Sydney Engle contributed six more as well as five kills and 10 digs. Also contributing double-digit digs was senior Georgia O'Connell registering 16.
WKU finished with seven total blocks, including a trio of solo stops on the night. Amara Listenbee recorded a pair of those on her own to accompany an assist block as well.
Next up, the Lady Toppers will host the Holiday Inn University Plaza Invitational this upcoming weekend. Over the course of the invitational, WKU will face off against Southern Illinois, Cincinnati and Michigan State. Weekend matches commence at 1 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon.
