BOWLING GREEN, Ky. ? The South Alabama volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (19-30, 21-30, 22-30) decision Saturday afternoon to Western Kentucky at E.A. Diddle Arena in Sun Belt Conference action.
South Alabama (9-17, 3-12 SBC) will play its final road match of the regular season Tuesday night when they travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on Southern University at 7:30 p.m. Western Kentucky improves to 25-6 on the year and 14-2 in Sun Belt action.
Megan Argabright led all players with a match-high 15 kills for the Lady Toppers, while Brittany Blackwelder paced South Alabama with a team-high eight. Juliana Pallamin de Almeida, Jenna Swilley and Lauren Robbins also finished with seven kills apiece for the Jags.
The key stat of the match was in the service department, where Western Kentucky recorded 15 aces compared to just two by USA.
GAME ONE: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 19
Game one was tight early on with neither team able to grab more that a one point advantage on the other. Tied at 10-10, Western Kentucky took the lead for good with a quick three point spurt that was ended by an Argabright put away. With WKU holding a 16-13 advantage later in the opener, the Lady Toppers pulled away for good with four more unanswered points. Argabright later put Western Kentucky up by double figures (27-16) with three straight kills. WKU came out on fire, hitting a .516 percentage in the opener en route to the 30-19 win.
GAME TWO: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 21
Leading by three (7-4) early in the second game of the match, Western Kentucky took seven of the next 10 points to stretch its lead out to 15-7. Argabright later gave the Hilltoppers their largest lead of game two at 23-11 with a pair of back-to-back kills. Trailing by 12, USA was able to cut the deficit to 26-20 late after a Swilley kill and a block assist from Blackwelder and Hristina Markova, but that was as close as the Jags were able to get. Western Kentucky went on to take a 2-0 lead in the match with the 30-21 game two victory.
GAME THREE: Western Kentucky 30, South Alabama 22
In the third game with USA holding an 8-7 lead, Western Kentucky reeled off a 9-2 run over the next 11 points to take a 16-10 lead. The Lady Topper scoring spurt was capped off by another Argabright kill. South Alabama continued to fight back though and was able to cut the WKU margin to as few as two on three occasions, the last coming at 23-21 after an Almeida kill. Western Kentucky, however, closed the match out by taking seven of the final eight points en route to the 30-22 game three win.
