Sept. 14, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There is no place like home for the UK Volleyball team, as the Wildcats got back in the win column on Tuesday night with a grueling 3-1 victory over the Lady Toppers of Western Kentucky at Memorial Coliseum. The Cats had lost two straight matches away from Lexington and the team is now a perfect 2-0 at home this season.
Junior Megan Weiskircher capped off her all-tournament selection at last weekend?s Big Orange Bash with the best game of her college career. Weiskircher led the Cats with a career-high 18 kills and a .467 hitting percentage while adding another career-best of 15 digs. In three matches since switching middle blocker positions with Jaclyn Homan, Weiskircher has notched 32 kills. Weiskircher’s performance on Tuesday marked her first double-double of the season. Katie Eiserman added her third double-double of the season with 16 kills and 16 digs while sophomore Whitney Sample, in her first start of the season, compiled her first with 53 assists and 11 digs. Homan added a season-high nine blocks. battled the Lady Toppers (6-3) through two tight games to start the match and came out with a pair of 16-14 victories. A poorly played match by both teams throughout, mistakes finally caught up to the Wildcats in the third game when WKU drew within a game with a 15-4 win. The Cats barred-down in the fourth game, not wanting the match to go to a deciding fifth, and edged the Lady Toppers 15-10. UK hit at a .313 clip for the night while holding WKU to a .180 mark.
“We made mistakes and they made mistakes,” said UK coach Jona Braden. “It was not pretty, but we got the job done. This was a tough match in that we had to find a way to win and fortunately we did that.” The Cats will head into this weekend?s Kentucky Conference Challenge boasting a 5-2 record. UK hosts Central Michigan, Hofstra and Southeast Missouri State in the annual event. The Wildcats play their first match of the tourney at 7 p.m. on Friday against the Hofstra Pride.
At Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Ky.
Attendance: 277
Kentucky def. Western Kentucky, 16-14, 16-14, 4-15, 15-10
