Matthews' Record Night Leads Tops to Third Tournament Win

Saturday, September 21

Bowling Green, Ky.

5 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

13-1

Samford

6-4

Samford

WKU

9/21/2019 8:05:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Interviews: Coach Hudson | Jackson | Matthews

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – With a 3-0 sweep of Samford on Saturday night, the Red and White extended their win streak to nine matches as the Lady Toppers claimed the WKU Volleyball Invite title. Lauren Matthews took home WKU Volleyball Invite MVP honors while Sophia Cerino also collected All-Tournament Team recognition for the Red and White. Matthews also set WKU's single-match hitting percentage record at .882 in the victory.

"I said back in week one that I just want us to continue to get better and I haven't been caught up in wins and losses or winning tournaments," head coach Travis Hudson opened. "This team is far from a finished project. For me, I'd rather lose and get better than win and backtrack a bit. I think we've been winning and getting better though, which is the best of both worlds."

On the weekend, Matthews finished with a blistering .527 attack percentage with 45 total kills and 13 blocks for a 1.18 blocks per set average. The sophomore had just six errant attacks all weekend.

"It's obvious that Lauren is a pretty spectacular athlete," Hudson said of the sophomore tournament MVP. "I've seen a lot of spectacular athletes that never turned into great volleyball players though. The thing that I'm so proud of with Lauren though, is that she's gotten so much better since she arrived here. Every day this spring, we grinded; and there were some days where she didn't look like a very good player but it's why she is one now. She's vulnerable and wants to get better and wants to work on the things she's not good at while listening and being coachable. Those things combined with her athleticism allowed her to turn into a pretty special player."

Cerino was a game-changer for the Red and White from the service line, racking up 18 aces in the 11 weekend sets for a stellar 1.64 aces per set average. On the week, Cerino tossed up 64 serves, helping WKU keep control and put up a run every time she went to the line.

"I don't know if I've ever seen someone impact a match from the service line as much as Sophia can," Hudson shared. "We're such a good defensive team that I feel like if we can get a three- or four-point cushion on people that we're in pretty good shape because we don't give up points very much. All weekend, Sophia gave us that opportunity by going back and serving us out to good leads early on and so like you hope seniors do, she impacts us in a lot of ways and she certainly did that this weekend."

The Lady Toppers claimed their third early season tournament crown with the WKU Volleyball Invite championship on Saturday. The Red and White also won its opening-weekend outing at Toledo and last weekend's Holiday Inn – University Plaza Invite.

With just one non-conference matchup remaining, Hudson's crew sits at 13-1 and a perfect 7-0 in matches in Diddle Arena.

Samford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening frame but a solo block and two kills from quickly shifted momentum back to the hosts. The teams continued to battle back and forth before the Lady Toppers finally pulled away for good after a Paige Briggs' kill gave WKU a 16-14 lead. The Red and White would score the frame's final four points for the 25-18 decision. Seven of Matthews' 15 kills came in the opening frame while she added a pair of blocks as well.

While WKU began the second set with a 9-5 advantage, but the Bulldogs refused to quit. Samford strung together a 6-0 run to take an 11-9 lead. The visitors maintained a lead or tie until Matthews' 10th kill of the evening set the Lady Tops in motion. WKU would then use an 8-1 run to force two Samford timeouts and extend its lead to 22-17. The Lady Toppers would force a couple late Samford errors to claim the second set 25-22.

After a back-and-forth start to the final set, the Red and White went on a 7-1 run that led to a 14-7 advantage and never looked back. Samford would use its final timeout trailing 18-9 before the sides split the final 14 points of the match evenly as WKU won the 25-16 decision.

The WKU offense operated at a blazing .356 clip against the Bulldogs with seven different Lady Toppers registering a kill in the victory. Matthews led everyone with 18 kills and her school-record .882 hitting clip while Briggs reached double digits with 10 strikes of her own. Katie Isenbarger, Sophia Cerino and Avri Davis each added four kills apiece.

Matthews notched seven kills in the first frame, three in the second and five in the third for 15 kills on 17 swings. Her .882 attack percentage surpassed Alyssa Cavanaugh's previous single-match record of .818, set in 2017.

Nadia Dieudonne recorded her fifth double-double of the season and second of the weekend with 30 assists and 13 digs in the win. The junior also added three blocks, a kill and an ace.

Logan Kael finished with nine digs while Briggs added eight and Emma Kowalkowski chipped in seven.

NEXT TIME OUT:
WKU will conclude its regular-season non-conference slate on Tuesday as Austin Peay visits The Hill. First serve from Diddle Arena is scheduled to go up at 6 p.m. CT, as the Lady Toppers continue their seven-match homestand.

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.