Win Streak Grows to 12 as [RV] WKU Downs MTSU, 3-1

Friday, October 4

Bowling Green, Ky.

6 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

-161; 20 CUSA

Middle Tennessee

-610: 02 CUSA

MTSU

WKU

Photo by: Katie Stratman/WKU Athletics

10/4/2019 10:10:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Interviews: Coach Hudson | Kowalkowski

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Lauren Matthews and Paige Briggs combined for 33 kills and a .556 hitting percentage to lead WKU Volleyball past Middle Tennessee in four sets Friday night from Diddle Arena. With the win, the Lady Toppers' win streak extended to 12-straight matches as the squad improved to 10-0 when playing on The Hill this season.

"We've been pretty erratic lately; up and down with some pretty good stretches and really poor stretches," head coach Travis Hudson shared. "We've been struggling out of the gate in that first set for the last few matches and we played much better then tonight but then let our foot off the gas in set two. I just hope this team is learning every time we take the court."

WKU's 16-1 start ties the 2019 squad with the third best start in program history. The Red and White are now 2-0 in Conference USA matchups as well.

MTSU fell to 6-10 on the season and 0-2 in league play with the loss.

First-set action from The Hill saw just one tie and one lead change as WKU took a 2-1 lead after MTSU struck first and the Tops never looked back. Middle Tennessee called for timeouts trailing 7-2 and 13-7 but WKU would cruise to a 25-15 win as Matthews found the floor on five of her six swings and WKU hit .435 as a team while holding the Blue Raiders to just eight kills in the frame.

Middle Tennessee would respond in the second set, leading wire to wire en route to a 25-19 victory. WKU was held to a .130 hitting clip while Matthews added four more kills in the set.

Out of the break, the sides battled back and forth before the Red and White went on a 5-1 run to open up a 17-13 advantage. The Blue Raiders would not pull back within three the rest of the set as WKU closed the frame out on a 6-1 run for the 25-17 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth and final set of the night, there were zero ties and zero lead changes after Avri Davis and Matthews teamed up for their second of three block assists together to give the Tops a lead they would not relinquish. Matthews would follow with a kill before Sophia Cerino added her fourth ace of the night and a Nadia Dieudonne kill would make it 4-0 in favor of WKU. The Lady Toppers pushed all the way out to an 11-1 advantage before MTSU managed to score another point. WKU would go on to open up a 20-9 cushion before the Blue Raiders broke into double digits. WKU closed the match with a 5-1 push to secure the program's 13^th-consecutive win over Middle Tennessee.

As a team, WKU hit .297 while holding Middle Tennessee to a .143 clip. The Lady Toppers rattled off 50 kills while limiting MTSU to just 36, including two in the final frame. Defensively, the Tops racked up 48 digs, led by Emma Kowalkowski's 10 – marking the first time the senior led the team in the category this season.

WKU registered nine blocks on the night with seven block assists coming from Matthews. Cerino would record the lone solo stuff in the match along with one block assist while Davis and Briggs would add three each.

The Lady Toppers were lethal from the service line with five different players registering an ace on the night as the squad recorded nine. Cerino bettered MTSU's mark of three on the night with four herself to bring her season total to 50 just 17 matches in. The senior currently sits in seventh on the career aces list with 147 and 11th on the single-season charts.

Matthews notched 21 kills on 30 swings for a .633 hitting percentage to mark the fifth time this season she hit .600 or better. The sophomore added a match-best seven blocks along with a trio of digs.

Briggs joined Matthews in double digits with 12 kills on 24 attacks for a .458 clip while adding six digs and three blocks.

Dieudonne racked up 38 assists, five digs, two kills and a block assist. Cerino would add a career-high four assists along with nine kills, six digs and pair of blocks.

NEXT TIME OUT:
WKU closes out its month-long homestand on Sunday as a hot Marshall team visits The Hill. Both teams enter the noon match with an unblemished reading in Conference USA play and 12-4 overall record.

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.