BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Volleyball picked up its NCAA-best 28th-consecutive home victory with a sweep of ETSU (9-3) before No. 22 Washington State (9-0) would ultimately end the streak with a four-set victory. Rachel Anderson led the way for the Lady Toppers with two double-digit kill performances.
"Washington State is undefeated, they're so very physical," head coach Travis Hudson opened. "They're the biggest team in college volleyball. We were what we've been - we had stretches where we played well, we had stretches we didn't. When you're playing a team of that caliber when you get in one of those bad stretches it really shows. I thought our kids played really hard and gave ourselves a chance to get that thing to a fifth set and we had a chance at 23 all to do that. I think we gave away a few too many against a quality opponent."
The Red and White are now 7-5 on the season with all but one of those losses coming to a team that's received votes or been ranked at some point during the 2018 campaign.
MATCH 11: WKU 3, ETSU 0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-22)
WKU Volleyball kicked off its second-consecutive weekend tournament with a 3-0 sweep of ETSU. First set action saw the Lady Toppers limit the Bucs to a .033 hitting clip while the Red and White worked at an 85-percent sideout rate. Rachel Anderson and Kayland Jackson each found the floor for three kills as WKU claimed a 25-19 first-set victory.
Set two from Diddle Arena saw nine ties and five lead changes between WKU and ETSU. The Bucs were the first to double digits in the set with a 10-8 advantage prompting a WKU timeout. Trailing by as much as 14-10, Sophia Cerino found the floor for a kill and headed back to the service line where she followed with back-to-back aces, pulling the Lady Toppers within one and forcing an ETSU stoppage. Shortly after the break, the Red and White strung together a 6-1 run to open up a 19-16 advantage. ETSU battled back to knot the set at 23-23 but Katie Isenbarger found the floor for a kill and Emma Kowalkowski followed with an ace to give the hosts a 2-0 lead in the match.
Out of the long break, ETSU jumped ahead 3-0 but Hudson's crew answered with a 7-1 run to open up an early lead. WKU would call a timeout with the frame tied at 13-13 but play remained even as the set went along with the sides also knotted at 20-20. From there, the Bucs committed a service error and the Lady Toppers led the rest of the way en route to a 25-22 third-set victory.
Anderson and Jackson each notched double-digit kills while Isenbarger added six. Anderson racked up four blocks in addition to three apiece from Cerino, Isenbarger and Jackson.
Kowalkowski led WKU with eight digs while Taylor Bebout added 24 assists and seven digs.
MATCH 12: No. 22 WASHINGTON STATE 3, WKU 1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-23)
In Friday night's finale, WKU Volleyball gave No. 22 Washington State all it could handle before dropping a hard-fought 3-1 decision. The Lady Toppers became the first team to take a 1-0 lead in a match this season on the Cougars after a 25-22 first-set victory.
Set one saw Cerino register three of her four aces while Anderson and Isenbarger each added three kills. WKU out-dug WSU 20-10 in the frame with five from Darby Music. The opening frame saw 11 ties and seven lead changes throughout its course.
Washington State responded back in set two, working at a 94-percent sideout rate – allowing the Lady Toppers a run of multiple serves just once. The set saw just one tie – at 1-1 – before the Cougars led the rest of the way to even the contest at 1-1.
Out of the break, No. 22 Washington State put up 5.0 blocks and 16 digs for a 25-14 third-set victory for a 2-1 lead in the match. WKU was limited to a .053 hitting clip against WSU's towering front row.
WSU jumped out to a quick 8-5 lead in set four, forcing Hudson to call for a stop. Out of the break, Isenbarger and Jackson found the floor for back-to-back kills. Before long, Cerino and Anderson teamed up for a block that evened the score at 14-14. Washington State pushed ahead to 20 first with a three-point advantage before the Lady Toppers fought all the way back to knot things back up at 22-22. Service errors by both sides brought the score to 23-23 but the Cougars got the final say with a kill and block to seal the 25-23 victory and remain undefeated.
Anderson led the way for the Red and White with 15 kills with Cerino not far behind at 11 on a .526 hitting clip. WKU finished with 49 collective kills on the night and a .188 attack clip in contrast to WSU's 52 kills and .320 rate.
Music led the way defensively for WKU with 11 digs, marking the first time she's led the Lady Toppers in the category and the second time she's registered double digits this season.
In total, the four-set battle saw 21 ties and 10 lead changes, making for another great atmosphere in E.A. Diddle Arena.
"It's incredible, it really is," Coach Hudson started when asked about the 28-match home winning streak. "This place is a magical place for us, but for whatever reason we were a tattered team, we were a thin team, a beat up team. Lauren Mathews is still out, Rachael Anderson was a game-time decision - we didn't even know if we were going to have her in this match and we went out there toe to toe with an undefeated top 25-ranked team in the country and were a play away from getting that thing into the fifth [set]. This place has been great to us and we appreciate our fan support very much and it gives us a life every night out."
CLOSING THOUGHTS FROM COACH HUDSON:
"We have to continue to grow every night. I'm really pleased with where our team is and I'll accept that kind of fight out there every night out of them. We don't have to win every match but we have to compete our tails off and I thought we did that tonight."
NEXT UP:
WKU Volleyball will close out weekend play on Saturday with a tilt against the Northern Illinois Huskies at 1:30 p.m. CT from Diddle Arena.
TOPPER NOTES:
- The Lady Toppers now lead the all-time series against ETSU 6-2. WKU has claimed its last four meetings with the Bucs.
- Washington State claimed the decision in the first-ever meeting between the sides.
- Against ETSU, Rachel Anderson and Kayland Jackson led WKU in kills with 10 each marking the ninth time Anderson has led WKU in the category this season while it was Jackson's first. Anderson now has nine double-digit kill outings on the season while Jackson is up to three.
- Rachel Anderson led WKU in kills with 15 against Washington State in Friday's finale. She now owns 10 double-digit kill performances on the season.
- Run of the day: A 5-2 stretch in favor of the Tops in set one against No. 22 Washington State. With a slim 19-18 lead, WKU pieced together a 5-2 run to open up a 24-20 advantage in the set and ultimately hand Washington State its first opening-set loss of the season. Taylor Bebout and Sophia Cerino each had two kills in that stretch while Hallie Shelton added a solo block.
- Against Washington State, Darby Music led WKU with 11 digs – her first time leading the Red and White in the category this season.
- WKU Volleyball won 28-consecutive home matches – the longest home winning streak in the NCAA – prior to Saturday night's four-set loss to No. 22 Washington State.
