No. 2 Seed WKU Uses Strong Finish For 3-1 Win Over Charlotte

Friday, November 17

Bowling Green, Ky.

Noon CT

Western Kentucky University

28-3

Charlotte

19-12

Charlotte

WKU

Photo by: Steve Roberts, WKU Athletics

No. 2 Seed WKU Uses Strong Finish For 3-1 Win Over Charlotte

11/17/2017 5:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score WKU 3, Charlotte 1 - Box Score (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Behind 22 kills off the hand of junior Rachel Anderson – including her 1,000^th career kill – WKU Volleyball claimed a four-set victory over No. 7 seed Charlotte to open play in the 2017 Conference USA Volleyball Championship. The Lady Toppers have now won 53-straight matches at home over conference opponents and have yet to lose a match inside E.A. Diddle Arena against a Conference USA foe.

"What a tremendous year for Charlotte," head coach Travis Hudson opened. "Charlotte finished in the cellar last year, in last place in Conference USA and for them to turn it around and win 19 games and get to this tournament and perform the way they did speaks so much to the direction that their program is headed. Much credit goes to them. We weren't great. I don't know, I think you're one way or another when you start conference tournament time. I think you're either jacked up and you're really good or you just can't seem to catch a rhythm. I thought we were tight today and didn't really find a great rhythm. But hopefully, we've got that behind us now and can settle into this thing and play well from here forward."

With the victory, WKU improves to 28-3 on the year. The Lady Toppers are now 12-3 all-time against Charlotte. The 49ers' season ends with a 19-12 record.

"The crowd was phenomenal today and I thought it was both our biggest enemy and our biggest ally as that much went on," Hudson continued. "I thought at the beginning, we're playing at home, we're the higher seed, you've got your crowd behind you and you don't want to disappoint that whole situation. I thought that contributed to us being tight but as we started to settle into that third and fourth set it was a real ally to have them behind us. Our kids started making hustle plays, the crowd always appreciates that and it really helped us build momentum."

"It's definitely nicer knowing some of the people in the stands," Anderson echoed. "Going to conference other places, you don't have the crowd that we do here. This is our home court, we're most comfortable here, we didn't have to go to a hotel or do all the travel. I feel like our team is more relaxed and comfortable here."

The Lady Toppers opened postseason play with a 25-14 first-set victory over Charlotte on Friday. WKU got on the board first on a Sydney Engle kill before Charlotte countered with the next two tallies. Action remained even to the 5-5 point when the Red and White registered three-straight points to take the lead for good. The 49ers pulled back within two at 13-11 but WKU would finish things up with a 12-4 run to close the door. Rachel Anderson notched six kills on seven swings in the frame while WKU finished with 15 strikes as a unit, working at a .400 clip. Defensively, WKU limited Charlotte to six kills and a .042 hitting percentage.

Charlotte retaliated in set two and after forcing extra volleyball claimed set two 27-25. There were six ties and four lead changes in the frame. WKU's last lead in the frame came at 22-21 before Charlotte pushed ahead to set point. The Lady Toppers responded with two-straight points to tie things at 24-24 and again at 25-25. The 49ers went on to score the set's final two points to even the match at 1-1. WKU worked at a .276 offensive clip in the set led again by Anderson with six kills.

Following the break, action remained close but the Lady Toppers ultimately claimed the 25-20 set three frame to regain the lead in the match. The sides worked out to a 7-7 tie before the hosts began to pull away. WKU strung together a four-point run to take a 17-12 lead before adding a similar run to make it set point at 24-20. Cavanaugh found the floor with her 11th kill of the day to give WKU the 2-1 lead in the match. Anderson tallied seven kills in the frame while Cavanaugh posted five. WKU was held to a .273 clip in the frame while Charlotte was limited to a .129 rate – its best on the match.

In the fourth and final set, Charlotte struck first but WKU Volleyball followed with a seven-point run and never trailed again. After the 49ers posted back-to-back points, the Lady Toppers responded with another seven-point stretch to open up a 14-3 advantage. WKU went on to push ahead to 22-5 before claiming the frame 25-6. Mary Martin capped the victory with an ace. The 19-point margin was WKU's largest of the season as Charlotte was the first squad the Lady Toppers held to single digits in a set.

"I think a lot of us just settled down," Lucas said of WKU's third and fourth set wins. "We started playing more of our game. We didn't take as many errors. Definitely less hitting errors, especially that last set so we just started playing more of what our volleyball looks like."

Offensively, WKU worked at a combined .328 hitting percentage in the match while holding Charlotte to a .065 rate. The 49ers are the sixth team WKU has held to a hitting clip below .100. Anderson led the Lady Toppers with a .529 clip.

In addition to her 22 kills (22-4-34), Anderson recorded a match-best five blocks in addition to a dig.

Cavanaugh came on hot in the heart of the match and finished the day with 13 kills to go along with six digs and three blocks – including a solo stop. The solo block moved Cavanaugh into a tie for eighth place on the WKU Volleyball career list.

Jessica Lucas finished the match with 44 assists to bring her career count to 5,169. The senior added eight digs, five kills and a block assist as well.

Taylor Dellinger finished the day with eight kills for the Lady Toppers. She also posted a pair of digs and block assists on the day.

Sydney Engle and Darby Music led WKU with 11 digs each. Emma Kowalkowski was also in double digits with 10. Kowalkowski chipped in two aces while Engle added another. WKU finished with six aces in the match.

At the net, the Lady Toppers outblocked the 49ers – the C-USA blocking leader – by a 9-8 margin. WKU led Charlotte in digs (57-39) and kills (55-33) as well.

WKU will be back in action on Saturday in the Conference USA Championship Semifinals against No. 6-seeded Southern Miss. First serve of the match will go up at 1:30 p.m. CT, from E.A. Diddle Arena.