After opening the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic with a sweep of Saint Louis, Western Kentucky came up short Saturday, dropping decisions to Marquette (3-0) and Kansas State (3-1) to close out the weekend. The Lady Toppers fall below .500 to 3-4 ahead of a nine-game homestand.

“Today was a frustrating day for us,” coach Travis Hudson said in a news release. “For the first time all year I didn’t like the level we competed at. We had some good opportunities across today’s matches and didn’t take advantage of them. We simply make too many mistakes right now to give ourselves a chance against high-level opponents.”

Senior Rachel Anderson was named to the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic All-Tournament Team with a scorching weekend hitting percentage of .533.

WKU dropped straight sets to Marquette 25-22, 25-18 and 25-22. WKU’s first set of the day was a back-and-forth affair from start to finish. All tied at 22 down the stretch following a Katie Isenbarger kill, Marquette rallied and finished the frame on a 3-0 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Marquette flew out of the gate in set two, opening a 6-0 lead and pushing it ahead to 10-2 and 15-7 before WKU was able to get things going. At that point, the Lady Toppers strung together a 3-0 run to pull back within five and stuck around for the remainder of the set until falling 25-18. WKU’s offense found the floor for 13 kills and a .241 hitting rate in the frame.

Tied at 5 out of the break, Marquette put together a 6-0 run to push ahead of the Lady Toppers in the third set. Trailing 13-7, WKU tallied the next three points to cut its deficit in half. Back within two at 22-20 thanks to an Anderson kill, Marquette picked up two crucial points before WKU fended off match point twice on an Isenbarger kill and Darby Music ace before the Golden Eagles shut the door.

Sophia Cerino led WKU with nine kills in the match – her first time leading the Lady Toppers in that category. WKU worked at a .161 offensive clip with setting duties shared by Taylor Bebout and Mary Martin again. Bebout notched her first collegiate double double with 23 assists and 10 digs.

WKU dropped the second match of the day 3-1 to Kansas State 25-18, 25-22, 26-28, 25-17.

Out to an 18-9 lead at one point, WKU strung together a 4-0 run to force a KSU timeout. Out of the break, WKU pulled within 19-15 but the Wildcats closed things out with the 25-18 first set win.

Second set action opened with the Lady Toppers hitting double digits first at 10-5 but the Wildcats hung around. KSU used a 4-0 run late in the frame to take the lead for good at 22-20. Kansas State went on to take a 2-0 match with the 25-22 victory.

Set three saw a total of 12 ties and five lead changes between the sides as WKU managed to avoid the sweep, claiming the set 28-26 after fending off two match points for the Wildcats. The Lady Toppers put up 19 kills in the frame led by Isenbarger’s seven and five more from Kayland Jackson.

In the final set against KSU, the Wildcats jumped out to an early lead that WKU could never recover from. Kansas State worked ahead to a quick 16-8 advantage before WKU would ultimately hang with the Wildcats as both squads tallied nine points the rest of the way.

Three Lady Toppers recorded double-digit kills as Isenbarger led the way with 13, followed by Anderson and Kayland Jackson, each at 11.

Defensively, four Lady Toppers racked up double-digit dig efforts with Payton Frederick leading the charge with 16. Hallie Shelton and Bebout each registered 12 while Emma Kowalkowski added 11.

Bebout and Martin shared offensive-facilitating duties, as WKU worked at a .192 clip. Bebout recorded 31 assists for her second double double of the day while Martin added six helpers.

The Lady Toppers will host two weekend tournaments, a midweek matchup with Cincinnati and two Conference USA tilts against Middle Tennessee and Charlotte during the nine-game homestand.