Second-Round Bound Lady Toppers Sweep Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament

Friday, December 1

Lexington, Ky.

4 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

-313, 131 CUSA

Notre Dame

22-10, 11-8ACC

Notre Dame

WKU

Photo by: Mark Mahan

Second-Round Bound Lady Toppers Sweep Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament

12/1/2017 8:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score WKU 3, Notre Dame 0 - Box Score (PDF)

Post-Match Press Conference

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Behind 18 Alyssa Cavanaugh kills, a Sydney Engle double-double and three double-digit dig performances, WKU Volleyball swept the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon inside Memorial Coliseum. The Lady Toppers became the first team all season to hit above .300 in a match against the Irish and became just the third team to sweep the ACC squad. WKU is now 3-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament with all three victories coming as sweeps.

"I am so proud of this team," head coach Travis Hudson shared. "I am so proud from Alyssa Cavanaugh down to the last kid standing in that line. This group is a together group. They are a talented group. They have pushed each other. They have stuck together. The hardest part sometimes is the day to day. It is the being fierce competitors in practice and being hugely supportive of each other at the same time throughout the season and this bunch has just been very together all year and it is rewarding for me to see kids who learn life lessons in terms of how to handle themselves pay off in a big way. "

With the win, WKU Volleyball now sits at 31-3 on the year after earning Conference USA's automatic bid into The Dance. The Lady Topper seniors are the first group in program history to appear in the NCAA Tournament all four years of their careers.

WKU Volleyball opened NCAA Tournament play ready to prove it belonged, taking a 7-0 lead before allowing Notre Dame on the scoreboard. Lucas won her first joust of the match to give WKU a 9-3 advantage before the Lady Toppers worked out to a 15-9 lead. The Irish pulled within four at 15-11 before Cavanaugh started a run. Trailing 17-11, Notre Dame called for its second stoppage but Emma Kowalkowski found the floor with an ace out of the break as WKU Volleyball went on to claim the set 25-16.

After Notre Dame put the first point on the board in set two, the Lady Toppers retaliated with four straight. Things tightened up early in the frame, which saw six ties and three lead changes. Tied at 11-11, WKU Volleyball strung together seven-straight points to take control of the second set with an 18-11 advantage. Rachel Anderson and Lucas combined for a block to give the Red and White a 21-12 advantage late in the frame. Despite the Fighting Irish scoring five of the final eight points in the set, WKU prevailed 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead heading into the long break. The Lady Toppers worked at a collective .342 hitting clip in the set while holding the Irish to a .024 rate. Cavanaugh led the way with seven of WKU's 15 kills on just 10 swings.

Set three opened with a Hallie Shelton service ace as WKU climbed ahead to a 4-0 lead. Notre Dame pulled back within three before the Red and White strung together a four-point run to take a 9-3 advantage and force an Irish timeout. WKU owned a lead that grew as large as double digits before Notre Dame cut the margin all the way to a single tally at 22-21. After a WKU timeout, Cavanaugh took over. The senior tallied a kill out of the stop to push the Lady Topper lead back to two at 23-21. Notre Dame scored its final point on a kill before Cavanaugh registered two more strikes to close the book with a 25-22 win.

"I think we were ready," Engle said of the team's confidence. "I mean, we have been waiting for this moment all season. The fact that we finally got here, I think that we were all just eager to play and I think that played in our favor for the most part."

Cavanaugh's 18 kills tie WKU's program record for strikes in an NCAA Tournament match. Engle worked at a scorching .579 offensive clip, a new NCAA postseason record as well with 11 kills on 19 errorless swings. Engle also notched 13 digs for her third double-double showing of the year in addition to four blocks and an assist.

"They're two pretty special players," Kowalkowski said of Cavanaugh and Engle. "I mean, they do anything and everything on the court, off the court, you name it. They do it and they do it well."

WKU's second and third double-digit dig performers – Shelton and Kowalkowski – recorded 17 and 19 digs, respectively. Kowalkowski's mark tied her career high while Shelton's showing was a new personal best for the freshman.
Collectively, WKU out-dug one of the nation's best defensive teams by a 67-52 margin. The Lady Toppers finished with 10 blocks to the Irish's three.

"Everybody talked all week about our offense against their defense, rightly so," Hudson stated. "We were second in the country offensively and they were 12th defensively, But, as the kids said earlier, our defense gets overshadowed a little bit and that is something that we have worked really hard on all year long. I feel like we are a pretty good team offensively too. We blocked the ball well. We had over three blocks a game tonight. We put the ball on people that we want to put it on and serve receive. Defensively, we were flying round making plays tonight and when we are active like that defensively and give our offense a lot of chances, we are going to give our offense a lot of points. "

Anderson finished the contest with eight kills while Lucas and Taylor Dellinger each chipped in six. Leading the way at the net defensively was Anderson who finished with six blocks. Lucas, Amara Listenbee and Engle each contributed four as well.

Facilitating the offense to a .317 rate was Lucas who finished the day with 41 assists in the sweep. Lucas also added four blocks, two digs and an ace. The senior is now in need of just seven assists to tie the program career assists mark, currently held by Melanie Stutsman at 5,294.

The Lady Toppers are now 2-1 against squads out of the ACC on the year and 3-2 overall against Power 5 units.

Next up, WKU will take on the winner of No. 6 Kentucky and ETSU on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT, from Memorial Coliseum. The match will be streamed on WatchESPN.

When asked to speak about Hilltopper Nation, senior Cavanaugh shared "We really appreciate everything. We could not do anything without them. They took their time to travel two and a half hours. We had a fan bus that Western got together and that just means everything. We could hear them the entire time and that just created the atmosphere for us to want to win. "