The Lady Topper volleyball team made short work of Cincinnati Tuesday night, sweeping the Lady Bearcats 3-0.

With the win, the 21st-ranked Lady Toppers move to 5-3 on the season while the Bearcats remain winless — in fact, the Lady Bearcats have yet to win a set all season.

WKU took the first set of the match by a score of 25-15. In the set, the Lady Toppers held the Bearcats to a .133 hitting percentage while recording a .556 percentage themselves. The team also had five blocks in the first set compared to zero for Cincinnati.

Advertisement

“We were way better than we’ve been and hopefully that’s something we can continue this weekend,” coach Travis Hudson said. “I thought our first contact was better, I thought we served better…we have a lot of weapons offensively and when we can get everybody involved like we did tonight, we’re pretty good.”

Five different Lady Toppers had multiple kills in the first set, led by sophomore middle hitter Noelle Langenkamp.

Senior setter Melanie Stutsman played a big role in the first set as well, recording 13 of WKU’s 15 assists in the set.

“Everything just seemed to click,” Stutsman said. “The passing was good, serving was good, our hitters and I were connecting and we were having a lot of fun. The things we worked on in practice so far this week are the things that we executed in the game.”

The second set proved to be much the same for the Lady Toppers as they defeated the Bearcats 25-10. In the set, WKU forced Cincinnati to a negative hitting percentage at -.182.

Stutsman also tallied 12 more assists in the second set.

WKU did not let up in the third set as they once again held Cincinnati to a negative hitting percentage at -.133. The Lady Toppers completed the sweep of their opponents with a 25-14 win in the final set.

Langenkamp led the team in kills Tuesday with 11.

Overall, WKU had four players record five or more kills. Stutsman finished the match with 37 assists to lead the team while defensive specialists Georgia O’Connell tallied 10 digs on the night while Ashley Potts had nine.

“We really came together tonight I thought and worked well in all aspects,” Potts said. “…We wanted to take pride in stopping people and I think we did that tonight.”

Cincinnati leads the all-time series against WKU with a record of 17-5, but the Lady Toppers have won the last two matches after the Bearcats had won 11 straight.

The Lady Toppers are also currently enjoying their 14th straight week in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. This weekend they will host the WKU Invitational tournament as they invite Ohio, Virginia, and UNLV to Diddle Arena.