IRVING, Texas – For the third-consecutive week, WKU Volleyball has seen Lady Toppers earn weekly honors as Taylor Bebout collected the Setter of the Week nod and Lauren Matthews was tabbed the Freshman of the Week. The accolades are the first for both freshman student-athletes.
Taylor Bebout did so much more than just facilitate the WKU Volleyball offense as the Lady Toppers went 3-0 across the fifth week of play. Bebout racked up two double doubles, including one over [RV] Cincinnati.
The redshirt freshman dished out a career-high 52 assists in WKU's victory over Charlotte, not to mention a week five-best connection rate with the hitters as more than 44 percent of Bebout's sets found the floor for kills in the match. That rate held steady across the week as 42 percent of the Decatur, Ind., native's sets were followed by kills from her teammates. Bebout racked up 25 digs, 14 kills, four blocks and an ace across the three WKU victories. WKU hit .290 collectively on the week while holding its opponents to the fewest digs of all league squads as Bebout hit her spots with her sets, putting her teammates in the right position to finish plays.
Bebout's honor is the first of any of the league's four weekly awards. The last Lady Topper to collect Setter of the Week recognition was Jessica Lucas on November 6, 2017.
Finally healthy, Matthews showed what she's capable of for the Lady Toppers – complete domination. Matthews racked up 14 blocks including six solo stuffs across the week for a 1.27 blocks per set average. In addition to her outstanding blocking, she made her presence felt offensively, averaging 3.27 kills per set to post a 4.18 points per set average in her second week of play.
Matthews was inserted into the lineup against [RV] Cincinnati gingerly – marking her first action since the opening weekend of the season. Unsure how her presence would affect the team on the court, Matthews only played two full sets and the final five points of a third frame. Once she found her rhythm, Matthews fired off six kills and a block in set four over the receiving-votes squad. Three days later, the freshman turned around and led the squad with nine kills in a sweep of Middle Tennessee to help head coach Travis Hudson secure his 600th career win. Matthews added five blocks against MTSU. On Sunday, Matthews went off for a career-best 20 kills on 35 attacks for a .400 hitting percentage while adding seven blocks (four solo, three assist) at the net to help WKU Volleyball improve to 2-0 in league play.
Matthews' honor makes her the second Lady Topper recognized as the league's Freshman of the Week in 2018 as Katie Isenbarger earned the accolade on September 10. From the award's inception at the beginning of the 2015 season, WKU has collected just three honors as Rachel Anderson was the Freshman of the Week on September 28, 2015.
WKU Volleyball is up to five weekly honors on the 2018 campaign now with five different Lady Toppers earning recognition.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU.
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