Post-game quotes: WKU | Louisville
Interviews: WKU | Louisville
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Volleyball's historic run came to an end in front of a program-record 5,023 fans that filled Diddle Arena to attend the first-ever NCAA Tournament matches held on The Hill. The Lady Toppers took the opening frame and then had Diddle Arena booming after a fourth-set comeback that forced the match to go the distance. Louisville would ultimately claim the five-set victory in an absolute battle between the in-state foes.
"Look, a very worthy volleyball match to send someone to the Sweet 16 and you know Louisville, so much credit to their kids and their coaches," head coach Travis Hudson opened. "I mean to come into this environment and you know for us to get it to a fifth set and for them to play the way they did, as composed and as well as they did in that fifth set, this tournament is about finding out who's playing the best volleyball in the country and tonight in that fifth set, especially was the University of Louisville and so that's what I told our kids, I mean that's what this tournament is about and when somebody outplays you it's their time to move on and your time to bow out and there will be 63 teams who go through the same process over the next couple weeks and tonight was our turn."
The No. 15 national seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, WKU closed a season filled with program firsts with a 32-2 record to secure the team's best-ever season winning percentage of .941. The Lady Toppers achieved 30 wins for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons.
"I think this year has been extremely important to a lot of people here and I think it kind of showed what we're capable of and it's really exciting to see what we're going to do next year," junior setter Nadia Dieudonne shared. "It was really fun playing in front of everyone tonight and it will be exciting to play in front of them again next year."
Louisville advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time since 2005 and is now 21-9 on the season. The Cardinals will head to Austin, Texas next weekend to face off against No. 2 seed Texas.
The two-day combined attendance for the WKU site came in at 9,537.
"It was amazing, thank you so much Hilltopper nation," Katie Isenbarger said of the Diddle Arena crowds. "I cannot believe that. Every couple of minutes we were all like 'just look around at how many people are cheering' and we're so grateful for Hilltopper nation."
Lauren Matthews struck for her first of 17 kills on the night for the opening point of the Second Round matchup. A Sophia Cerino ace – her 83rd of the season – brought a raucous Diddle Arena crowd to its feet for the first of many times in the evening. WKU would then work out to a 10-6 advantage and would send the sides to the media timeout with a 15-14 lead. Louisville battled back to take its lone lead in the frame at 16-15, but the Tops responded for an 18-16 advantage. WKU pushed ahead to a 20-17 lead to force a UofL timeout and closed things out for a 25-21 first set win.
WKU racked up 18 kills in the set while operating at a .371 hitting clip and holding Louisville to a .200 rate.
In set two, the Tops worked out to a 12-7 advantage before Louisville produced an 11-0 run for an 18-12 lead it would not relinquish. WKU pulled back within three at 18-15 before the Cardinals took a 23-17 lead. After fighting off several set points, the Tops would fall 25-21 in the second set as Louisville evened the match at 1-1.
Following the break, WKU opened up an 11-5 lead after a Hudson challenge reversed a call. Louisville surged back and pulled within one at 14-13, but a Cardinal service error sent the teams to the media break with WKU ahead 15-13. UofL was the first to 20, breaking a tie and pushed the margin to 23-21 after winning a long rally. The Tops avoided a set point before Louisville took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-22 third-set win.
After a back-and-forth battle early on in the fourth set, Louisville took a 15-10 lead. A 3-0 pulled WKU within 16-14 before the Tops strung together an 8-0 run to take a 22-18 lead. With Hilltopper Nation's energy guiding them, WKU would close the set on a dominant 11-3 run for a 25-21 fourth-set win to force the match to go the distance.
It would be all Cardinals in the fifth set as the Tops called for timeouts trailing 6-1 and 9-2, but a collective .667 UofL attack rate in the frame secured Louisville a spot in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
Dieudonne delivered her ninth double double of the season, racking up 50 assists and 12 digs. She would facilitate the Hilltopper offense to a .162 clip.
Paige Briggs led WKU with 19 kills on 49 swings to go along with eight digs. Matthews also worked well into double digits in the kill column, recording 17 in addition to five blocks.
Logan Kael registered a match-high 21 digs with Hallie Shelton (12) and Dieudonne (12) joining her in double figures. Kael also tallied three aces.
WKU and Louisville finished even in kills (58) and aces (6) while each recording 62 and 64 digs, respectively.
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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