No. 23 WKU Returns to Diddle Arena to Host UTEP Friday

MATCH NOTES | HOPE FOR HARLIE FUNDRAISER

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Volleyball will return to The Hill for one of its three remaining home matches Friday night while putting the nation's longest winning streak of 19-consecutive matches on the line. Sitting at a perfect 9-0 just over midway through its league slate, No. 23-ranked WKU will play host to UTEP while looking to improve upon its 23-1 record and perfect 12-0 mark inside Diddle Arena.

FOLLOWING INFORMATION
Friday, Oct. 31 – 6 p.m. CT | vs. UTEP | Livestats | Facebook Live

Admission to Friday night's match will be free as the team celebrates its annual Hope For Harlie night with a combined fundraiser for the Hope For Harlie and Friends of Jaclyn Foundations. The team encourages fans to consider donating to the fundraiser by heading to goto.ps/Hope4Harlie18.

WKU's 23-1 record marks the best start in program history. Twenty-three wins is the most across the NCAA to date as the squad locked up the 20^th-straight 20-win season under head coach Travis Hudson with a 3-0 sweep at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 18. The Lady Toppers are one of five programs with an active streak of such, joined by Nebraska (44), Penn State (42), Florida (28) and Colorado State (25).

Additionally, after ending both Florida Atlantic and FIU's home win streaks that each ranked in the top-10 of NCAA Volleyball, WKU's 14-match streak will now be put to the test. That unbeaten stretch ranks as the seventh-longest active streak across the country.

Friday evening's 6 p.m. CT match on The Hill marks the lone regular-season meeting between the C-USA squads. The Miners enter the weekend with a 10-11 overall record including a 3-5 mark in C-USA play. Both sides have faced Tulane in non-conference play, a match WKU won in four sets while UTEP was swept. In league action, the Miners picked up wins over Louisiana Tech (3-0), FIU (3-1) and Marshall (3-0). WKU leads the all-time series 23-10 but WKU has claimed nine of the last 10 decisions after split results against the Blazers last season. WKU leads the all-time series 8-0.

The Tops have collected a total of 15 C-USA Player of the Week awards, standing as the sole team to win an award every week, as well as the only team to win at least one of each award. Five different student-athletes have accounted for the 15 accolades with Nadia Dieudonne earning recognition as Setter of the Week and Paige Briggs being selected as the Freshman of the Week back-to-back weeks most recently.

In the fourth RPI of the 2019 campaign, WKU moved to its highest spot yet at No. 28 and already owns 11 wins over teams in – or that have been in - the top 100.

Next weekend, WKU will hit the road for the final time of the regular season with the much-anticipated North Texas-Rice road trip. The Red and White will play in Denton Friday night before traveling to Houston for a top-25 battle with Rice.

How to Follow WKU Volleyball: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU. The team is also on Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Paige Briggs

Nadia Dieudonne