DALLAS – Following its toughest road trip of the season, No. 19 WKU Volleyball saw a trio of Lady Toppers recognized by Conference USA for their performances that helped the squad to a perfect 2-0 weekend in Texas. Lauren Matthews was tabbed Co-Offensive Player of the Week while Nadia Dieudonne and Paige Briggs collected Setter and Freshman of the Week nods, respectively.
Over the weekend, WKU faced the tall task of visiting the first and third place teams in the conference standings not to mention both matches marking senior nights for the Lady Toppers' opponents. Friday night, the Tops earned a four-set win over the Mean Green in front of a packed North Texas Volleyball Center. On Sunday, then No. 22 WKU visited No. 17 Rice for the first top-25 matchup against a conference opponent in program history, returning home to Bowling Green as the lone unbeaten team in Conference USA play after knocking off the Owls.
With those victories, WKU has now won an NCAA-best 26 matches and has grown its win streak to 22-consecutive contests – the second longest stretch in the country. The Lady Toppers are now 26-1 on the season and a perfect 12-0 in C-USA play.
Matthews operated at the next level even by her standards as WKU Volleyball took down third-place North Texas and fellow first-place standing Rice on their home courts across Week 11. Matthews delivered a 19-kill, six-block effort as WKU spoiled North Texas' Senior Night with a 3-1 victory. The sophomore worked at a scorching .516 clip to boost her NCAA-best hitting percentage. On Sunday, WKU got the final say in a battle of top-25 conference opponents and when it all came down to the fifth set, Lauren Matthews delivered. The Indianapolis, Ind., native tallied five kills and a block assist in the fifth set alone to bring her stat line to 17 kills, six blocks and a .314 hitting clip on the day. Across the weekend, Matthews averaged 4.00 kills per set and 1.33 blocks per. She averaged a .409 hitting clip in WKU's wins over two of the league's best squads.
Dieudonne guided No. 22 WKU to a pair of weekend victories in enemy territory as the Tops downed North Texas and No. 17 Rice. The junior transfer setter facilitated the offense to a .311 clip. Dieudonne delivered 50 assists with 48.1 percent of her sets finding the floor for kills in Friday's four-set win at North Texas. On Sunday, the Louisville, Ky., native found another gear and registered 60 assists and 16 digs for her sixth double double of the season. As if that wasn't enough, Dieudonne racked up four blocks in each of the victories and added eight kills and a .412 hitting clip as well. Across the weekend, the junior averaged 12.22 assists per set, 2.78 digs per set, 0.89 blocks per set and 0.89 kills per set.
Briggs proved she's among the best outside hitters in Conference USA with a pair of outstanding Week 11 performances. Friday night in Denton, Briggs' put on a show with 21 kills on .476 hitting to go along with 11 digs. On Sunday, the rookie would turn in another double-double effort with 11 kills and 10 digs to bring her season total to 13. Briggs operated at a .304 hitting clip while playing every point in WKU's pair of wins. In WKU's upset of No. 17 Rice, Briggs was perfect both in serve-receive and from the service line, helping the Tops snap Rice's 20-match home win streak, which was the third longest stretch in the nation. Briggs averaged 3.56 kills per set, 2.33 digs per set and 3.72 points per set.
With this week's awards, WKU has now collected 18 awards through the first 11 weeks of distribution. Matthews now owns four Offensive Player of the Week nods while Briggs and Dieudonne have each collected six Freshman and Setter of the Week accolades, respectively. Eighteen weekly awards are a new season-high for WKU since joining Conference USA prior to the 2014 volleyball campaign, surpassing the previous record of 16 set back in 2017.
WKU will look to clinch at least a share of the C-USA regular season title Thursday night in Diddle Arena as Louisiana Tech comes to town for a 6 p.m. CT tilt. On Saturday, WKU will celebrate its seniors prior to the noon CT first serve. Two wins in the final week of the regular season will clinch the C-USA regular-season title outright for the Lady Toppers.
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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