BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – No. 20 WKU Volleyball swept its 11th-straight match to push its NCAA-best conference win streak to 39 matches with Saturday's win over Middle Tennessee. The Hilltoppers operated at a scorching .458 hitting clip while holding the Blue Raiders to just a .143 mark.
"We're glad to get the win – another 3-0 sweep, can't complain about that – especially against the number two team in the division," began WKU head coach Travis Hudson. "This was a very different match than the one last night. Last night, I thought we had a lot of missed assignments defensively and today I thought we were much more sound in terms of the scouting report but we had a lot of missed plays that were right in front of us that we usually make. Overall, I'm really proud; another 3-0, 3-0 sweep weekend so we're glad to move forward from here."
With the win, WKU has won 33-consecutive sets and now sits at 18-1 on the 2021 season and 41-2 across the year 2021. The Hilltoppers climb to 6-0 in Conference USA while MTSU moved to 7-7 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Lauren Matthews continued her tear through opposing defenses, tallying 18 kills on a .773 hitting percentage to raise her season hitting average to .493. Matthews entered today with a mark of .478, which ranks in the top five in NCAA Volleyball with updated stats coming on Monday.
"Ten blocks happens rarely in the game of volleyball in a five-set match and she did it in a three-set match," Hudson said of Matthews' double double. "And the things she's doing offensively right now are just unheard of. Only Lauren and I understand this fully, but we both know she can be better. I know that sounds nutty but there are things that we see every time we sit down and watch film together. But that is also precisely why Lauren is good, when she plays well, she's not comfortable there, she continues to look for ways to get better. And that's the whole mentality I want our team to have. I want our team to constantly strive to be better even though we're having success."
Across the weekend, WKU out-blocked Middle Tennessee 23-2 as the Hilltoppers turned in 12 blocks on Saturday.
WKU vs. Middle Tennessee – 25-19, 25-22, 25-14
Set 1
WKU won the first two points of the match courtesy of back-to-back kills from Katie Howard and Matthews. The Tops held a 6-3 lead after a service error from the Blue Raiders, but a 5-0 MTSU run gave the visitors their first lead at 8-6. WKU responded with a 4-0 run of its own, capped off with a kill by Kayland Jackson to take back the lead, 10-8. The Tops would never surrender the lead again, going on another 4-0 run ending with another kill from Jackson to hold the lead at 15-10. The Blue Raiders would close the gap to just one at 18-17, but a 7-2 run from the Tops would give them what they needed to finish the set, taking the 1-0 lead, 25-19. The Hilltoppers operated at a .400 clip in the frame, recording 12 kills to go along with six blocks, while also holding the Blue Raiders to a .073 mark.
Set 2
WKU jumped out to an early 7-2 lead after a kill from Katie Isenbarger, forcing the Blue Raiders to call a timeout. The Tops continued to extend their lead out to eight, holding a 15-7 advantage after a Matthews' kill. MTSU responded with a 11-4 run to cut the Hilltopper lead to one point at 19-18, forcing a WKU timeout. Following the break, the teams would go on to have four ties before the Tops would go on a 3-0 run to close the set. Nadia Dieudonne and Matthews would combine to get the set-winning block to go up 2-0, by a score of 25-22. The Tops hit .433 in the set, racking up 15 kills in the frame.
"Middle really wasn't doing anything that we didn't know they were getting ready to happen but the thing I can say is that you've seen time and time again that our team never quits or gets down, we will always fight back. I just don't particularly like to have to fight back because if we would do the right things in the first place we won't be in that position. Having been in those situations though, I'm not surprised our team is going to continue to fight and believe that they're going to come back and win sets because they've done it time and time again."
Set 3
Out of the break, WKU would take a quick 3-0 lead and would hit double-digits first at 10-5, after three straight aces from Logan Kael, MTSU then called timeout to talk things over. The Hilltopper lead would extend to double-digits after a 4-0 run that consisted of a kill by Katie Isenbarger and two kills, as well as a block from Lauren Matthews, to give them the 18-8 advantage. The Blue Raiders would cut the lead to seven at 19-12, but that is as close as it would get. WKU then went on a 5-0 run to give them match point, 24-12. A match-ending kill from Lauren Matthews would give the Red and White a victory, 25-14. The third set saw WKU hit at a .588 clip, recording 11 kills and six aces in the frame.
Matthews had 18 kills on 22 swings, hitting at a .773 clip to go along with 10 blocks, which would be her second double-double of her career. She is the only player in program history to record a kills-blocks double-double, doing it twice.
Dieudonne racked up 30 assists on the day to go along with three digs, one kill, two blocks and an ace while leading WKU to its third-straight match hitting .400 or better, and its seventh outing this season.
Kayland Jackson turned in five kills on .714 hitting and six blocks on the day. Paige Briggs chalked up five kills, 10 digs, and an ace.
Kael finished with 10 digs and a career-high, four aces, including three back-to-back-to-back.
NEXT UP
WKU will travel to Boca Raton next weekend for a matchup against Conference USA opponent Florida Atlantic.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU brought back the previous lineup of Paige Briggs, Katie Howard, Lauren Matthews, Katie Isenbarger, Kayland Jackson, Nadia Dieudonne and Logan Kael at libero. This is the fifth different starting lineup to hit the floor for WKU.
- WKU leads all-time series against Middle Tennessee 54-16 and has now won 19-consecutive matches against the Blue Raiders dating back to 2011.
- With one more ace, Hallie Shelton is up to 12 across her last five outings. She now sits at 169 as a Hilltopper, which is seven aces shy of tying for third on the program's all-time list.
- With 18 kills, Lauren Matthews ranks 13th on WKU's career kills list at 1,237, 28 kills shy of tying for 12th on the program's all-time list.
- With the win, the Hilltoppers improve to 18-1 (6-0 C-USA) on the season and 16-0 in three-set matches.
- WKU has now won 33-consecutive sets with 11 straight sweeps since its lone loss.
- The Tops' NCAA-best conference win streak is up to 39 with Friday's victory, breaking the Conference USA record already held by WKU.
- With the day's results, head coach Travis Hudson is now 683-217 across his career.
- WKU Volleyball is now up to an all-time program record of 961-492 with Friday's win.
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.
