Lady Tops look to clinch SBC regular season title Friday

Lucas Aulbach

The Lady Toppers had no troubles

during their final regular season road trip over the weekend. Now

the stage is set for a match this Friday with the Sun Belt East

division on the line.

It was business as usual for WKU

(27-3, 14-1 Sun Belt Conference) as it swept South Alabama on

Friday and Troy on Saturday. The wins increased the Lady Toppers’

most recent winning streak to six matches and pushed their total to

27 — the most in the nation.

Head Coach Travis Hudson said while

his team wasn’t perfect, he saw some things he liked during the

matches in Alabama.

“We played well,” he said. “We could

have played better, but in the end it’s always exciting to get a

couple of wins on the road.”

Junior outside hitter Jordyn Skinner

was a big part of WKU’s success. She led the Lady Toppers in kills

and digs in both matches and recorded two more double-doubles,

bringing her season total to 17.

Hudson said while

she is an important piece for the team on offense and defense, the

wins over the weekend can be attributed to the solid play of

everyone on the team.

“Everybody played well this

weekend,” he said. “That’s really what you hope for at this point

in the year.”

Skinner said the experience gained

by playing for a full season has helped WKU get noticeably

better.

“I can’t really put my finger on one

thing we’ve really improved at, but you can just tell by watching

that we’re a better team now than we were at the beginning of the

year,” she said.

In beating two more Sun Belt teams,

the Lady Toppers continued their streak of dominance in the

conference. WKU hasn’t lost a Sun Belt match since Oct. 4 against

Middle Tennessee State, and has swept every conference opponent

since then.

Other than an Oct. 4 loss and a 3-2

win over Arkansas-Little Rock in September, the Lady Toppers have

swept all 13 other Sun Belt matches this season.

Senior middle hitter Tiffany Elmore

said the Lady Toppers have been working hard to improve and, like

Skinner said, you can see the results.

“We’ve really been focusing on

improving on our side of the ball,” she said. “It’s reassuring to

be playing the way we are at this point.”

The Lady Toppers will play their

final regular season match of the season on Friday against MTSU, a

familiar foe. MTSU is the only team to beat WKU in Diddle this

season and is the only Sun Belt team to beat WKU.

Hudson said while the stakes are

higher on Friday, there’s nothing special the Lady Toppers are

going to have to do to win in Murfreesboro.

“We’re going to come into practice

this week and continue to do what we do,” he said.

Elmore has yet to win a Sun Belt

regular-season title in her time at WKU, and a win on Friday would

do it. She said winning is going to take a big effort from the Lady

Toppers.

“We’re tied for first with the

regular-season (title) on the line, so we’re really excited going

in,” she said. “We want to put our best effort out there and come

back with a win.”