WKU Volleyball brings in three for Hilltopper Invitational

The WKU volleyball team is getting ready to welcome in Austin Peay, Western Michigan and #8 Purdue to Diddle Arena for the Holiday Inn University Plaza Hilltopper Invitational. The Lady Tops hold a combined winning record against the three teams, including a 27-11 record versus the Governors, a 3-1 mark against the Boilermakers and a split 1-1 record with the Broncos.

WKU is coming into the weekend off a 3-0 sweep of Lipscomb on the road, and have won six matches in a row after starting the season 1-2. As a team, they lead C-USA in hitting percentage (.258), and are mere percentage points behind conference leaders in kills per set, assists per set and blocks per set. The Lady Tops, along with Southern Miss, have the most wins in all of the conference with seven.

The top 10 Boilermakers have run the table up to this point, and have yet to surrender a set through their six games played, and played in a tournament last weekend down in the metro-Atlanta area, at the Kennesaw State University Owls  Invitational. Purdue ranks in the nation’s top 30 in four different categories – hitting percentage, aces per set, kills per set, and assists per set – and boast the Big Ten Setter of the Week in senior Val Nichol, who helped lead Purdue to a .253 hitting percentage last week, handing out 10.44 assists per set. Redshirt sophomore Faye Adelaja is ranked eighth nationally in attack percentage, hitting .486 with 44 kills.

The Governors are the only team in the tournament with a losing record, coming in at a 3-5 mark. However, APSU has more kills than their opponents through their first eight contests, but has committed a significant amount of more errors as well. Another redshirt sophomore, AP’s Sammie Ebright, has come alive of late, and recorded her first career double kill match in the Govs’ win over Evansville.

Western Michigan rounds out the tournament for WKU, who bring with them the MAC Defensive Player of the Week, Caroline Rose, who was named to the Golden Dome Invitational All-Tournament Team last weekend. At the tournament, the Broncos defeated both IUPUI and the host Notre Dame, while falling to Washington State. Western Michigan will be playing Austin Peay for the first time this weekend.

It’s two full days of volleyball at Grand Ol’ E.A., and if you’re lacking in weekend plans, why not come out to see some great play?