Lady Tops look to clinch SBC regular season title Friday
November 8, 2011
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.”