Tops Punch Ticket to NCAA Second Round in Front of Record Diddle Arena Crowd

Thursday, December 5

Bowling Green, Ky.

7 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

-321; 140 CUSA

Kennesaw State

13-322-9; ASUN

Kennesaw State

WKU

Tops Punch Ticket to NCAA Second Round in Front of Record Diddle Arena Crowd

12/5/2019 11:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score WKU Quotes Kennesaw State Quotes Box Score WKU Post-Match Notes

Post-game quotes: WKU | Kennesaw State | Louisville | Samford
Interviews: WKU | Kennesaw State | Louisville | Samford

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Volleyball battled its way to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history with a 3-0 sweep over Kennesaw State in front of a record crowd of 4,514 inside Diddle Arena Thursday night. The Lady Toppers won their second NCAA Tournament match in the last three seasons and have swept all four of their wins in The Dance.

"Two comments: first, how about Kennesaw State? What a gutty, tough, well-coached team," WKU head coach Travis Hudson opened. "I knew that's what we were getting, that's who they are when you watch them. They competed all night and I knew what we were in for. So first, just unbelievable respect and credit to them and their program; and then secondly, to all the people in Hilltopper Nation who came out tonight, I've dreamt of what I saw out there for 25 years. There's no way I will ever be able to show my gratitude to the Bowling Green community for letting this guy who's been here for 25 years walk out of that tunnel into that. And for that, I will forever be grateful."

With Thursday night's victory, WKU is now 32-1 on the season, riding a 28-match win streak. The Tops added their NCAA-best 23^rd sweep.

Kennesaw State closed the 2019 campaign with a 22-9 overall record after earning the Atlantic Sun's automatic bid, marking the program's second appearance in the last three seasons.

"They [Kennesaw State] were playing like a team that thought they belonged and wanted to advance in this thing, and
that's exactly who I thought they were all along," Hudson added. "They're a champion – they're a conference champion. They're a program that wins at the highest level. They came hard tonight. I thought they played fantastically well."

"They're not a team that rolls over and that's what we pride ourselves on as a team," Katie Isenbarger added. "That's what we strive to be as a team and be tough to play against that never rolls over and that's exactly what Kennesaw State showed tonight."

WKU opened NCAA Tournament action as the first to double-digits with a 10-8 lead. Kennesaw State pulled within one on the next point but Lauren Matthews' fourth kill of the night gave the Tops an 11-9 lead, sparking a 4-0 run for a 14-9 lead. Paige Briggs' first kill of the night sent the teams to the media timeout with WKU ahead 15-11. Both sides were even at 20 before a Kennesaw State service error followed by a Sophia Cerino and Katie Isenbarger block assist gave the Tops a two-point lead at 22-20. After a KSU timeout, the Owls tied it up before the Lady Toppers registered three of the final four points for a 25-23 first set win.

Set two saw Kennesaw State and WKU tied at 6-6 before a 4-0 KSU run gave the Owls a 10-6 lead and forced an early Lady Topper timeout. From there, WKU battled right back and took its first lead since the opening point at 13-12 and pushed it to 14-12 before Kennesaw State tied it right back up. A KSU service error followed by Sophia Cerino's 82^nd ace of the season gave WKU another two-point advantage before Kennesaw State battled back for a 19-17 lead. From there, the Red and White tallied eight of the final nine points, including a 5-0 run to end the frame, for a 25-20 second-set win and 2-0 lead in the match.

Out of the break, the squads continued to square off and after WKU struck first for the third-straight set, Kennesaw State again jumped out to an early lead at 6-4. Briggs struck for a kill to brings the Tops within one before delivering a service ace to knot the score. WKU would tally the next two points for a two-point advantage before KSU pulled back within one at 8-7. After three-point runs for both sides and back-and-forth action, WKU pushed out to a 16-12 lead. Still not done, Kennesaw State battled back again and tied the match at 23-23 for the 18^th and final tie of the match. A KSU service error set WKU up for match point and the Tops sent everyone home with another Cerino and Isenbarger block assist for the 25-23 win.

WKU worked above its season average hitting percentage, operating at a .357 clip. All four Lady Toppers that tallied double-digit attacks owned an attack rate of .316 or better.

Defensively, the Lady Toppers limited Kennesaw State to a .206 hitting clip, below its season average of .242. WKU out-blocked the Owls 10-4 as well. Isenbarger racked up a career-high eight blocks on the night while Cerino matched her career best with six. Logan Kael led the Tops in digs with 10 for her 21^st double-digit dig outing of the season.

Briggs led WKU with 11 kills on 29 errorless swings for a .379 clip to go along with six digs. Lauren Matthews and Kayland Jackson each added nine kills. Jackson operated at a career-best .750 hitting percentage. Cerino added seven more kills.

Nadia Dieudonne tallied 31 assists and four digs while facilitating the WKU offense to its 20^th match hitting .300 or better on the season.

WKU's previous attendance record was set on its Senior Day with a crowd of 1,385, which reset the record from the previous match that totaled 1,209.

"I am still in shock," Cerino said of the Diddle Arena atmosphere. "Walking out and seeing that, I think we all just stood out there and took a second and had to look around and be like, 'Wow, this is pretty cool to be able to play in this environment and play in front of Hilltopper Nation.' Thank you to everybody that came out – it means the world to us. The support that this community has given us has been amazing, and I can't ask for anything better for the NCAA Tournament. We put out a challenge for people to come out, and they accepted it and blew us away."

KENNESAW STATE HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL ON DIDDLE ARENA ATMOSPHERE:
"The atmosphere was great and credit to WKU. To be honest, if the atmosphere hadn't been as good, I don't know if we would've been as excited. When you get to this point you want there to be people. We had heard talking to Travis (Hudson) yesterday that there were a couple thousand tickets sold, and he was saying they were expecting three or four (thousand), and I said "good, I hope it is more than that". That is great for volleyball, that is great for just the overall game and the intensity of it. You know you can see with what Johnny (Madeline Johnson) and Lo (Lauren Chastang) just said that our kids kind of wanted that. Again, if people thought we were going to come in here in front of a big crowd and be intimidated they have no idea what we're about, and they just don't know what we're doing. Really happy with our group and bummed at the same time because I thought we could've gotten that to more than 3, but we didn't and we have to live with that."

TICKETS:
Fans can purchase a single-session ticket for Friday night's 7 p.m. showdown against Louisville HERE. Anyone with an all-session pass is already covered and does not need a single-session ticket.

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.