For the first time since 2013, WKU volleyball swept in front of a home crowd as the Lady Toppers lost their third straight game and their third straight home game.

North Texas (9-15) defeated WKU in straight sets 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-23) moving the Lady Toppers’ record to 14-9 (5-3) in the conference.

North Texas dominated the first set as they used their height to their advantage to control most of the set and wore WKU down to win 25-16. In the second set, WKU kept the game close, but allowing North Texas to score 12 of their points off of errors made the difference down the stretch.

“No matter how young you are you shouldn’t be having communication breakdowns this late in the year,” head coach Travis Hudson said. “I have to do a better job of coaching them and getting them in the right spots … it’s caused us to be in situations where kids have stayed uncomfortable longer than they should.”

The Lady Toppers came out in the third set more focused than the first two and jumped out to an early 13-9 avoiding the tall defenders. But like most of the match, errors and miscommunication allowed North Texas to get back into the set and tie it up at 22-22. North Texas proceeded to take three out of the next four points to win the match in three sets.

“Confidence is built through process,” Hudson said. “It’s not built through results and we have to do a better job with our process.”

Senior Rachel Anderson led the team with 12 kills. Sophomore Kayland Jackson had eight and junior Sophia Cerino had seven. WKU out-attacked North Texas 114-86 but had 23 attack errors and 12 service errors to North Texas’ seven attack errors and five service errors.

WKU is now tied for fifth in the Conference USA standings with North Texas. The team heads to Texas for two C-USA matchups against UTEP next Friday and UTSA next Sunday. The Lady Toppers will return home Nov. 2 against FIU.

Sports reporter Kaden Gaylord can be reached at 270-745-6291 and [email protected] Follow him on Twitter at @_KLG3.