Stuart Easton

Western Kentucky junior golfer Stuart Easton turned in the best performance of his career this weekend, culminating with a third-place finish Sunday at Wyoming’s Southern Dunes Invitational.

Easton – an Ayrshire, Scotland, native – fired a 7-under 209 (70-69-69) across three rounds to claim third outright at the par-72, 7,546-yard Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.

The third-place finish and the 209 were the best marks of Easton’s career. The 209 score was the top 54-hole effort by a Hilltopper this season and the best in the program since Billy Tom Sargent’s 208 at last year’s Kenny Perry Invitational.

Easton started 2 over through five holes in Sunday’s final round but responded with four birdies and nine pars the rest of the way. He ranked fourth in the tournament with 14 total birdies.

It was the second straight top-five finish for Easton after tying for fifth last month at the Memphis Intercollegiate.

WKU finished fifth as a program in the 10-team field with an 876 (301-285-290). Host Wyoming won the team competition at 854.

Sargent, a redshirt junior, continued to improve across each round and ended play with a 1-under 71 on Sunday. He tied for 29th with a 223 (79-73-71) total.

Freshmen Crimson Callahan (224) and Chase Landrum (227) tied for 34th and 44th, respectively, and junior Blake Smith tied for 48th at 228.

Loyola Marymount’s Riley Elmes was the individual medalist with a 12-under 204 total.

The Hilltoppers are back in action at Kennesaw State’s Pine Tree Intercollegiate from Oct. 23-24 in Kennesaw, Ga.

Lady Toppers pick up 2-0 women’s soccer win over Florida International

Western Kentucky’s women’s soccer team netted a pair of first-half goals Sunday from Chandler Backes and Tally Bishop and defeated Florida International 2-0 at the WKU Soccer Complex.

The Lady Toppers (5-8-1, 2-4-1 Conference USA) claimed their fifth shutout of the season and second in a row after shutting out Florida Atlantic on Friday. WKU hasn’t allowed a goal in 252 consecutive minutes dating back to the match at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 6.

Bishop found the back of the net for the second straight match for WKU, while Backes moved into a tie for 10th place on the program’s all-time career goal-scoring list with her strike in the 16th minute. Backes, a sophomore, has collected 15 goals in 33 matches at WKU, five of which have come this season.

WKU held a 12-6 edge in total shots and a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal over the Panthersn, led by a match-high trio of shots from Bishop. Backes also had a pair of shots, and both Avery Jacobsen and Deven Jackson put one shot on goal apiece.

For FIU (1-11, 0-7 C-USA), Michaela Rouse had a pair of shots on goal and Emily Baragar added one more.

Allison Leone notched her fifth solo shutout while playing all 90 minutes and making three saves for WKU. FIU’s Nevena Stojakovic also manned the posts for all 90 minutes, surrendering the two early goals and making three stops.

WKU will return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday at UTSA.

WKU rolls to 3-0 volleyball sweep

over host Golden Panthers

Western Kentucky’s volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-18) win Sunday over Florida International in Miami.

The Lady Toppers have 22 straight victorious sets, the most by the program since 2013. WKU has won 17 straight matches and 32 straight over Conference USA foes.

WKU improved to 21-2 on the season with its 16th sweep of the season and is 7-0 at the halfway point of its Conference USA slate. FIU dropped to 2-12 overall and 1-6 in league play.

Rachel Anderson led the way offensively for WKU, notching 12 kills for her 14th double-digit showing of the season. The junior worked at a .409 hitting clip. Anderson added a career-high three aces to go along with a dig and a pair of blocks.

Sydney Engle had nine kills and nine digs to go along with three aces, two blocks and two assists. Engle, Anderson and Sophia Cerino each posted three service aces on the day.

WKU senior Alyssa Cavanaugh tallied eight kills and added four digs, a block, an assist and a service ace. Senior setter Jessica Lucas finished with 35 assists, four digs, three kills and a block.

The Lady Tops’ Emma Kowalkowski was the only player from either side to record double-digit digs, posting 14.

WKU will host its next four matches at E.A. Diddle Arena. A weekend visit from UTEP and UTSA is on tap for Oct. 20 and Oct. 22 before Marshall and UAB come to town the following weekend.

Lady Tops wrap up fall tennis season at ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships

Western Kentucky’s women’s tennis team wrapped up the fall season this weekend at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championship hosted by Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The field included three ranked teams, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Kentucky and No. 24 Tennessee, along with several ranked individuals and doubles pairs.

WKU freshman Moka Ito led the squad, splitting her contests 2-2. The Fukushima, Japan, native beat opponents from Butler and Chattanooga and fell to a representative of Tennessee as well as 112th-ranked Emma Kurtz of Vanderbilt.

Lady Topper graduate student Elpida Malamou finished 1-2 on the weekend.

WKU sophomore Monica Malinen was 2-1 in singles, Paraguay native sophomore Cindy Oest was 1-2, sophomore Natalia De Ugarte went 1-1 and senior Violetta Shatalova was 0-2 in singles play.

Ito and Malinen extended their doubles record to 7-2 in the fall season with wins over duos from Tennessee-Martin, Memphis and Tennessee. The WKU tandem was defeated in only one doubles match.

Third team all-conference doubles members De Ugarte and Oest rounded out the weekend with a 2-1 record, defeating representatives from Chattanooga and Ball State, while falling to Memphis.

WKU’s women’s tennis team begins its spring season in January.