BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – In a rematch of the 2017 Conference USA Championship, WKU Volleyball fell to North Texas by a line of 25-16, 25-22, 25-23. With the loss, the Hilltoppers now go to 14-9 overall and 5-3 in Conference USA action. North Texas improve to 9-15 and 5-3 in conference.
"We're both a lot alike, we were the two elite teams in the league last year and each lost a lot to graduation and are playing a lot of young kids," head coach Travis Hudson said of WKU and North Texas. "Andrew has his young kids playing better than I have our young kids playing right now, and you know we both have rough stretches in our season. His kids played really well tonight and deserved to win the match."
WKU opened the evening with a quick 3-0 lead after a Sophia Cerino kill and back-to-back service aces from Taylor Bebout but North Texas responded and had the set tied at 6-6. The Mean Green worked their way out of reach thanks to a 5-1 run down the stretch and ended up winning the first set 25-16.
North Texas reciprocated the quick 3-0 advantage in the second frame but WKU answered right back and was the first to double digits at 10-9, forcing a Mean Green timeout. Both sides battled back and forth throughout the set with 12 ties and four lead changes recorded but it would be North Texas ahead for good after a 19-19 tie.
Trailing 2-0 out of the intermission, WKU Volleyball would be the first to double digits in the third set – leading 10-6 to force a North Texas stoppage. From there, the Lady Toppers pushed ahead to a 15-10 and 19-14 lead before the visitors began to work their way back. North Texas pieced together a 4-0 run to pull within one at 21-20 before WKU would call for a timeout. Kayland Jackson answered for the Lady Toppers out of the break with a kill before North Texas would tally back-to-back points to tie it up at 22-22. Jackson struck again for a 23-22 advantage but North Texas closed out the match on a 3-0 run to pick up its first sweep of the Red and White since the 2008 campaign.
Rachel Anderson posted a match-high 12 kills on a .320 hitting clip. Jackson finished with eight kills while Cerino added seven. Collectively, WKU led North Texas in the kill column 41-36 but the Mean Green owned the hitting percentage advantage at .337 - .158.
Taylor Bebout filled the statsheet for the Lady Toppers, recording 33 assists, four digs, four kills and three digs.
"I thought Taylor Bebout set a pretty nice match for us tonight I thought she did some good things, Sophia Cerino is a kid that's really shown up and played aggressively for us all year," Hudson added. "You know we are just struggling, no reason to sugar coat it right now were struggling right now. We've got seven matches left to find ourselves a little bit."
Payton Frederick notched double-digit digs for the 12th-consecutive match. Darby Music chipped in eight digs as well.
Across just three sets, the match saw 17 ties and six lead changes.
HOPE FOR HARLIE FUNDRAISER:
Supporters can donate to the online fundraiser here: https://goto.ps/Hope4Harlie18
NEXT UP:
WKU Volleyball will be back in action next Friday as the squad heads west to Texas. On Friday evening, the Red and White will visit UTEP for a 6 p.m. CT match before closing the trip at UTSA on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
TOPPER NOTES:
- WKU is now 20-3 all-time against North Texas dating back to 2000. Two of those losses have come during the Lady Toppers' C-USA membership.
- The Lady Toppers are now 5-3 in three-set matches on the 2018 season.
- Rachel Anderson led WKU with 12 kills marking the 16th match she's led the squad in the category.
- Payton Frederick notched double-digit digs for the 12th-consecutive match.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU.
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