WKU Volleyball: Lady Tops Sweep Notre Dame to Advance in NCAA Tournament
In the opener of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the WKU volleyball team swept Notre Dame in straight sets (25–16, 25–18, 25–22) for their third…
In the opener of the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the WKU volleyball team swept Notre Dame in straight sets (25–16, 25–18, 25–22) for their third ever win in the national tournament.
Roughly 200–250 fans made the trip from Bowling Green to Lexington and immediately got behind the Lady Tops as they jumped out to an early 5–0 lead, which forced a Notre Dame timeout. The run didn’t stop there, as WKU started the match up 8–1 before Notre Dame could find any sort of a rhythm. The Fighting Irish were able to fight back and bring the match within four at 15–11, but that was all Notre Dame could do against WKU. The Lady Tops took the first set 25–16 on a Sydney Engle kill.
The second set started just like the first, with WKU jumping out to an early 7–3 lead, but unlike the first, Notre Dame had an answer. The Fighting Irish tied the match at 7–7 before the two teams went back and forth with WKU finally pulling away to take a 17–11 lead forcing a Notre Dame timeout. The timeout did not seem to help the Fighting Irish as the Lady Tops kept rolling to close out the set with a 25–18 win.
Coming out of the break, the Lady Toppers continued their hot streak by getting out to an early 9–3 lead forcing another Notre Dame timeout. Just like in the previous two sets, the Fighting Irish struggled to find an answer for WKU as the Tops rolled out to a 15–5 lead. Notre Dame stormed back via a 10–4 run to bring the match within four at 19–15 which forced Travis Hudson to call his first timeout of the match.
The Notre Dame run continued as they brough the match to within one at 22–21 forcing Hudson to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, the team turned to their senior leaders as Alyssa Cavanaugh had two straight kills to clinch the win for WKU.
As Hudson put it, the storyline going into the match was the WKU offense vs. the Notre Dame defense. That battle was easily won by the Lady Toppers; they finished with a hitting percentage of .317 to Notre Dame’s .144. WKU dominated the entire way in this regard and the score obviousy shows it.
Alyssa Cavanaugh led the way for WKU with 18 kills. Jessica Lucas finished with 41 assists and libero Emma Kowalkowski finished with 19 digs.
Complete Stats
The Lady Toppers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they will play the winner of the host Kentucky Wildcats and ETSU. WKU has seen both teams this season playing Kentucky in an exhibition before the season and defeating ETSU on September 8th 3–1. The match will start at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
Travis Hudson, Alyssa Cavanaugh, Emma Kowalkowski and Sydney Engle Post-Game
Sam Gormley is one of the hosts of WKU RedZone Radio. RedZone Radio is a WKU-themed radio show that airs every Sunday at 7pm on Revolution 91.7. You can follow them on Facebook @WKURedZone or on Twitter @WKURedzone