Hilltopper Weekend Preview

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While football has another off weekend before another mid-week battle (this time, on a  Tuesday), WKU still has a busy athletics weekend ahead of them. All the action begins today at 1 p.m as the WKU soccer team, undefeated so far in Sun Belt play, will take on the Troy Trojans at the WKU Soccer Complex. The Lady Toppers come into the game with a 5-2-1 all time record against the Trojans, and come into the game with the longest unbeaten streak in Sun Belt play at six games. Similarly, the Lady Tops are riding a four game winning streak and six game unbeaten streak, and have only allowed two goals over the past contests. WKU has already beaten ULM, Louisiana and Texas St. in conference play this season. Look for a strong game from WKU keeper Nora Abolins, who was awarded the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week a couple of weeks ago. Abolins has played over 1100 minutes in goal, and has allowed eight goals so far this season, and leads the SBC in goals against average (0.64), save percentage (.860), and is sixth in the conference in saves per game, averaging around 4 (which, in all honesty, is a true testament to how good her defenders, most notably Chandler Clark and Andrea Curry, have been to keep opponents to limited scoring chances).
While the Lady Toppers come into the game at the top of the SBC, Troy comes into the match middle of the pack in the conference in just about every statistical category, as well as standings wise. The fifth place Trojans have some struggles in front of the net, as Troy starter Caitlin Buono has allowed 20 goals in 10 games played. Luckily for the Trojans, they can also score, but come into the game with a 6-7 record, being only one of two teams in the Sun Belt (along with UALR) who do not have a tie.

After Friday’s match, the focus will shift inside Diddle Arena, where the Lady Toppers volleyball squad will wrap up a 3 game homestand against ULM. WKU sits comfortably atop the Sun Belt standings, having not lost a set in conference play last year, while ULM only has one conference win, and are 5-16 overall. The Lady Toppers have two reigning SBC players of the week – Ashley Potts, and Melanie Stutsman (which, by the way, is her fourth in a row). WTRT will bring you more coverage of this match tomorrow, as we will be courtside, for it, and a WTRT first – a live tweet from our twitter account (@WaveTheRedTowel).

Saturday will be a quiet one on the hill, as both teams will use it to travel. However, WKU’s Swim and Dive teams will get their year underway with a meet at Delta State.

Sunday will see soccer take on South Alabama (which should be a great match, as WKU and USA are 1 and 2 in the conference standings, respectively), to finish their Dixie weekend, and volleyball will travel down to Lafayette to take on the Ragin Cajuins to finish their Pelican state doubleheader.

Coming into this weekend, WKU football, volleyball and soccer are 9-1 in their first 10 conference games. Hopefully it’ll improve this weekend, and the biggest test will most likely come on Sunday for both teams.

Stand up and cheers.