Volleyball team wins at UALR

Austin Lanter

After losing its first conference game in two years last weekend, the Lady Topper volleyball team rebounded with a sweep of the conference leader UALR Friday night on the road.

Senior outside hitter Paige Wessel led all scorers in the match, tallying 14 kills on the even followed closely behind by junior middle hitter Heather Boyan with 13 kills.

Senior setter Melanie Stutsman chipped in with 44 assists for WKU (17-5, 7-1 Sun Belt Conference) while senior defensive specialist Ashley Potts recorded 14 digs on the night.

The WKU defense was able to hold one of the top scorers in the nation, junior outside hitter Edina Begic, to 12 kills in the match. Entering the match, Begic was averaging over five kills per set.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair with UALR (15-5, 7-1 SBC) leading 24-23 in the end with a chance at set point. However, WKU fought back to tie the game at 26. After two errors by the Trojans, the Lady Toppers took the first set 28-26.

WKU found itself down early in the second set at 5-0 and 8-1. The team would work together to come back and tie the game at 16 before going on a 7-1 run to take a 23-16 lead. In the end the Lady Toppers took the second set 25-20 for a 2-0 lead going into the break.

Later in the third set, down by five, UALR used a 5-1 run to pull within one before WKU recorded four straight kills to push the lead back to five. The Lady Toppers completed the sweep with a 25-21 win in the third set.

WKU has more one game on the road before returning home as the Lady Toppers face Arkansas State (10-12, 6-2 SBC) Saturday night at 6 p.m.