Western Kentucky’s volleyball team picked up its fifth and sixth sweeps of the season with victories over Bowling Green and Ohio State to open action in the Holiday Inn – University Plaza Invite on Friday.

The Lady Toppers opened with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) win over Bowling Green before dispatching Ohio State 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 26-24).

With WKU’s win over Ohio State, the squad picked up its 12th Power Five win across the last six seasons and improved to 2-1 in such outings this year.

“This was really a hard-fought match,” WKU coach Travis Hudson said of the Ohio State sweep in a news release. “We didn’t do a lot of things well, but we were steady and we did handle the ball really, really well. Lauren Matthews is just playing really well right now for us. I love this team and I have a lot of faith in us. Even when we lost that lead late in the third set, I had faith that we’d pull this off. I have a lot of faith in this team and what we have the ability to do and it was certainly a lot of fun to watch them compete tonight.”

With the wins, WKU is now 8-1 on the season, claiming its last four decisions in straight sets. Bowling Green dropped to 5-3 with the loss while Ohio State fell to 3-5 with a pair of setbacks on the day.

Across WKU’s two outings, Lauren Matthews racked up 27 kills and a .396 hitting clip to go along with six blocks for 31 points. As a team, WKU worked at a .242 offensive clip while holding its opponents to a .159 rate.

WKU will close out weekend play Saturday with a 6 p.m. CDT showdown with Tulane. The Green Wave played once Friday, taking down Ohio State in four sets.

Women’s soccer

Western Kentucky 3, Southern Illinois 0

Making just her second career start and first since 2017, redshirt sophomore Deven Jackson found the back of the net twice as Western Kentucky downed Southern Illinois 3-0 at the Soccer Complex on Friday to continue its program-record homestand.

Jackson’s two goals were the first of her career, and Ambere Barnett started the night’s scoring for the Lady Toppers (3-2-1) to reach the final 3-0 scoreline. Ansley Cate dished out the assist on Barnett’s opening goal, and Barnett added an assist of her own on Jackson’s first goal of the evening.

WKU was dominant from the start, outshooting Southern Illinois 29-4 on the night and holding the Salukis, a first-year Division I program, without a shot on goal. The Lady Toppers peppered the pair of Salukis in goal with 11 shots on goal, with Jackson, Barnett, Ashley Leonard and Isidora Pekez each notching a pair on frame. WKU also held a significant edge in corner kick opportunities by an 11-1 margin.

Barnett led all players on the night with nine shots on the night, and Leonard followed closely behind with six shots of her own. Liz Brechtel led the Salukis with a team-high three shots.

Friday night featured a strong gathering of WKU alumni for the match, including two members of Southern Illinois’ coaching staff. Head Coach Grant Williams was previously a volunteer assistant coach for the Lady Toppers from 2006-09, and assistant coach Libby Stout (2008-11) stands alone atop nearly every WKU goalkeeping record, including program records for minutes (6,878), wins (45), goals against average (0.68), shutouts (39) and single-season saves (109).

WKU jumped out in front with two quick goals in just over 10 minutes to open the match. Set up by a short pass from Cate, Barnett was able to chip over the charging Mihalache and easily find the back of the net to open the scoring in the eighth minute, and Jackson doubled the lead just over three minutes later. Barnett slipped in a pass up the middle and the New Zealander buried it past the goalkeeper to give WKU the 2-0 advantage.

Pekez nearly added another strike for the Lady Toppers just before the halftime break with a pair of shots on goal, but could not convert as WKU carried its two-goal lead into the locker room.

To open the second half, Jackson pounced on a miscue by Mihalache to add her second goal of the night. The goalkeeper attempted to clear

WKU will be back in action at the Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Alabama A&M.