HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – WKU Volleyball took a 2-0 lead over seventh-seeded Southern Miss in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament but the Golden Eagles stormed back to win the five-set quarterfinal match. Freshman Lauren Matthews led the way with a match-high 18 kills while senior setter Mary Martin closed her career with a 41-assist, 10-dig double-double outing.
"A tale of two teams is kind of who we've been all season," head coach Travis Hudson opened. "We've had trouble with the young group sustaining play all year long. We've built lead and lost them and this just is not something new for our team but it really jumped up and bit us at the wrong time of the year."
WKU Volleyball closes the season with a 20-10 record after exiting its conference tournament in the first round for the first time since 2013. The Lady Toppers reached the 20-win mark for the 19th-straight season under Hudson, despite facing the epitome of a rebuilding year. WKU will not play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
"It's a frustrating end to two really good careers on The Hill," Hudson said of his seniors. "Those kids have never known anything other than championships in their time here, so I'm sure this is a very bitter pill for them to swallow. They've always been winners and they'll be winners moving forward in their lives. They've always carried themselves the way we want Lady Toppers to carry themselves and they left it all out there at the end and that's really all we could ask them to do."
With a full week of rest since its regular-season finale, WKU Volleyball opened postseason action ready to go, jumping ahead to a 9-4 lead. After trading points out of a Southern Miss timeout, the Lady Toppers were the first to double digits at 10-4. USM pulled back within two at 16-14, but WKU's .429 hitting clip would ultimately prevail as the Red and White won the frame 25-20. Rachel Anderson had six kills on seven swings while Lauren Matthews added four strikes.
USM jumped out to a quick 7-2 advantage in the second frame from the Cam Henderson Center. Trailing 12-6, the Lady Toppers posted a 4-0 run to pull within two at 12-10 and force a Southern Miss timeout. From that six point deficit at 12-6, the Red and White went on a 19-3 run to close the set in a demanding fashion at 25-15.
Opening the third set the same way the second frame started, WKU found itself trailing 7-2 and forced to call a timeout. From the break, the Lady Toppers strung together a 9-4 run to knot the score at 11-11. At that point, however, the Golden Eagles would go on to take the set 25-16 as WKU was held to a -.034 hitting percentage in the frame. Through three sets, Matthews led everyone with 12 kills.
After WKU got on the board first, the Golden Eagles tallied a 7-0 run for a quick lead before the Lady Toppers would start to chip away at the deficit. Trailing by as much as 17-11, the Red and White willed their way all the way back to knot the set at 19-19 and force a USM timeout. During the 6-0 WKU run to tie it, Sophia Cerino struck for three aces in the span of five points. However, the Golden Eagles would finish strong and take a 25-20 victory to force a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, WKU got on the board first but Southern Miss worked back and took a 7-3 lead to force a Lady Topper timeout just before the switch. Out of the stop, USM made it a 4-0 scoring run with an ace. Following the side switch, WKU ended the run but Golden Eagles opened up an 11-4 advantage to force WKU's second timeout.
WKU scored the first point in the final set but Southern Miss followed with an 8-2 run. Coming out of WKU's second timeout down 11-4, Matthews found the floor twice in the span of three points and Mary Martin followed with an ace to pull the score within 12-7. USM answered back with a couple points for a 14-7 lead. With their backs against the wall, the Lady Toppers rattled off four-straight points to keep the match alive before the Golden Eagles closed it with a 15-11 decision.
Matthews led three Lady Toppers into double-digit kills, racking up 18 while Cerino collected 12 and Anderson posted 10. WKU finished with a .158 hitting percentage on the day after hitting .000 or worse in each of the last three sets.
"Lauren's future is bright, she's coming off a 15-kill on 20-swing performance and backs that up with an 18-kill showing today," Hudson said of Matthews' play. "That would have been the Lauren Matthews we saw a month and a half ago if she hadn't missed the first month of the season with an injury. Certainly she's someone that we will continue to develop and has a really bright future ahead of her."
Martin facilitated the offense from start to finish in her final match for the Red and White. The senior notched 41 assists, 10 digs, three blocks and an ace en route to her second double-double performance of the season.
Cerino finished the day with a match-high four-ace showing. Anderson led the Lady Toppers with five blocks while Matthews was right behind her with four.
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.
