The Towel Rack: WKU preps for four home games

While there’s no football action for the second time in four weeks, there is still action on the Hill, as both the Lady Toppers soccer and volleyball teams will play two games each this weekend on the Hill. Since conference play began, the two squads have been going in opposite directions. I’ll leave it there, as we preview our matchups for tonight.

Soccer:

The Lady Tops are on a bit of a slide, having lost their last two C-USA games, one in overtime on the road to Old Dominion and then on Sunday in a 3-0 Charlotte win, in which WKU let all three goals in a span of 15 minutes. But, there’s good news in the two game losing streak; in each of the past three years, immediately following a two game losing streak, the ladies have turned around and won six of their last eight. There’s a fun stat for ya. On the field, Lauren Moats continues to be the go-to for the offense, as she leads the team in goals and has 11 total points. Moats was also the lone goal scorer against ODU. Freshman goalie Allison Leone has been on a bit of a slide recently, as she’s allowed five goals in the last two games, when before this point, she had allowed just five goals all season. But, growing pains are expected with a true freshman goalie and she’s bound to over come them sooner or later. More good news for WKU is that the Miners come in on a bit better of footing, but are keeping an even keel in conference play at 2-2, with wins coming against Rice and MTBR. UTEP is lead in the scoring department by Angela Cutaia, who has six goals and 14 points. The Miners love to share the love, as they have six players with multiple assists this year.

Volleyball:

The Lady Tops didn’t play a very good match on Tuesday, but they were still able to pull out the win in straight sets over Charlotte. Not sure if that tells you how good WKU is or how bad the 49ers are…I’m going to go with both. Regardless, the ladies are going to have to play much better, as Marshall comes in on a roll, having defeated four of their last five opponents, but are coming off a five set loss to North Texas on the road over the midweek. WKU kept Charlotte’s best hitter in check, holding her to just four kills, eight errors and a negative hitting percentage, and will want to do the same against with both Lauren Legge and Jillian Shemanski, who set season highs with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, in the loss to the Mean Green. Shemanski gets it done on defense, too, as she sits at third in the C-USA with an average of 1.12 blocks per set. It should come as no surprise on the young Hilltopper team that it’s a freshman who leads the way in Alyssa Cavanaugh, who’s averaging just under three per set, and Heather Boyan is the Tops’ two-way player, as she leads the conference with 74 total blocks and over 170 kills. The last time these two teams meet were in 2010, which was a five set victory for the Herd.

If you’ll be attending either event tonight, hit us up on twitter @WavetheRedTowel and send us pictures, updates, etc., as real world obligations will keep WTRT away from the events tonight. Let’s go for the weekend sweep, ladies!