Courtesy of WKU Athletics
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – No. 20 WKU Volleyball improved to 8-0 on the season – matching
the best start in program history – with Sunday’s 3-0 sweep of visiting Charlotte. A
steady day from the service line and solid blocking effort helped lead the
Hilltoppers past the 49ers who entered the match as the second-place team in the
Conference USA East Division. WKU has now swept seven of its eight victories on the
2020-21 season.
“This was a really good volleyball match,” opened head coach Travis Hudson. “Karen
is doing a great job with that Charlotte team. Come conference tournament time,
they’ll be a team that will have a chance to win that thing; they’re physical,
talented and handle the ball well. I had a lot of respect from watching them on film
and then seeing them in person certainly did nothing to hurt that. We’re really glad
to get the win and it will take another great effort tomorrow.”
Sunday’s win marked Hudson’s 650th career victory – all at WKU – making him just the
15th active Division I volleyball coach to achieve the milestone.
“It’s just hard to believe,” shared Hudson. I’m just the ball coach here at Western
Kentucky, trying to do the best job that I can every day and I’m not worried about
people thinking I’m one of the best in the country or anything like that. If the
players in my lockerroom feel good about me being their coach and they know that I
love and care about them and am making them better players and better people then
that’s enough for me. I want to be the one people that does that more than I want to
win 650 times on the court.”
“I think it’s awesome, there are obviously not a lot of coaches that have done this
and it shows Travis has been here for 26 years,” Nadia Dieudonne opened about
Hudson’s 650th win at WKU. “If anything, I feel like my time here is a blessing to
me because I get to experience why he has that many wins. We’re going to keep on
going and see how many we can get for him.”
In the opening frame, Charlotte jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held it until
WKU took a quick lead at 9-8 following a kill by Avri Davis. Charlotte then went on
another 4-0 run to retake the lead 12-9. The Tops responded with a 16-6 run and
scored seven out of the last eight points to win the set. During that run, WKU
recorded five kills, two from Paige Briggs, two from Davis, and one from Kayland
Jackson to give the Tops what they needed to claim the first set 25-18. The Red and
White hit at a rate of .219 while holding Charlotte to .148.
Set two was back-and-forth for the entire way and would ultimately need a few extra
points to determine a winner. WKU held a 12-7 advantage when Charlotte called their
first timeout. This followed back-to-back aces by Briggs who recorded three of the
team’s seven aces throughout the match. Charlotte would respond, keeping the score
close but WKU never gave up the lead after tying at 22-22 and 24-24. On a mission,
Matthews racked up eighth of the team’s 15 kills in the set, while finishing with a
team-high 14 on the match, giving WKU the edge in the second set, 26-24. The Both
teams improved their hitting percentages from set one, the Tops hit at .500, while
Charlotte worked at a .348 rate.
The sides worked out to a 7-7 tie out of the break. WKU went on a 3-0 run, featuring
two kills by Matthews, giving the Tops a 10-7 lead and they never looked back. Kills
by Jackson, Nadia Dieudonne, Briggs, Davis, Katie Isenbarger and Matthews all played
a role in getting the Tops the 3-0 set sweep after Logan Kael finished the match on
an ace to give the tops a 25-17 win in the third set.
Matthews finished with 14 kills on 25 attempts for a .400 hitting clip to go along
with three solo blocks and four total stuffs.
“I just took it as a personal challenge to play through it and not give up,”
Matthews said about her the slow start. “I couldn’t let my teammates down; if I’m
down and showing that, it would bring them down and we can’t have that.”
Isenbarger also had three total blocks along with Jackson and Dieudonne who recorded
2 each. Dieudonne added 34 assists and five digs as well to help WKU to a solid .370
team hitting percentage.
Briggs finished with a steady line of nine kills for a .421 hitting percentage along
with a team-best nine digs, three aces and three assists.
Hallie Shelton and Kael each added two aces.
Sunday’s victory also marked WKU’s 100th win over a Conference USA opponent –
regular season and postseason included – since joining the league prior to the 2014
campaign.
WKU Volleyball is back in action again on Monday as they close out the series
against the 49ers. First serve is set for noon CT from E.A. Diddle Arena.
