Lauren Matthews led WKU with 14 kills on .393 hitting while also tallying three blocks. Fellow senior Katie Isenbarger delivered six kills on a .545 efficiency with two blocks of her own. Kayland Jackson and Paige Briggs both tallied eight kills. Jackson posted a team-best four blocks.
Logan Kael struck for two aces, two assists and six digs on the night while Ashley Hood led the Hilltoppers with nine digs.
Nadia Dieudonne dished out 31 assists while facilitating the Hilltoppers to a .280 hitting percentage including a .400 mark in the third set of action.
In total, the match saw 11 ties and three lead changes after the Hilltoppers struck first in all three frames.
WKU at [8] No. 13 Georgia Tech – 21-25, 18-25, 23-25
Set 1
Lauren Matthews opened the match with a kill and WKU would jump out to a quick 5-1 lead before working into double digits at 10-7. Georgia Tech battled right back with a 5-0 run for a 12-10 lead and would lead by three (15-12) at the media timeout. Out of the break, Matthews struck for a kill and Logan Kael followed with an ace to pull WKU within one before GT pushed back to 19-16 to force a Hilltopper timeout. The Tops struck for two quick points out of the break for a reciprocal Yellow Jacket timeout. WKU battled back and knotted the set at 21-21 but Georgia Tech closed the frame on a 4-0 run for the 25-21 win.
Set 2
Kayland Jackson opened the second frame with a kill and would team up with Matthews for a block and 2-0 Hilltopper lead. A 3-0 run from the hosts gave Georgia Tech a 3-2 lead before the teams battled out to a 5-5 tie. The Yellow Jackets hits double digits first at 10-7 before WKU pulled within one at 11-10. At the media timeout, GT led 15-11 but the Tops would quickly cut that deficit in half. The Hilltoppers called a timeout trailing 21-17 and Georgia Tech would close the frame with a 25-18 win for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set 3
Matthews once again opened a frame with a kill before GT would tie things up at 3-3 and push out to a lead soon after. WKU called a timeout trailing 9-4 early in the frame and the Yellow Jackets quickly pushed that out to a 12-5 advantage. Coach Hudson won a challenge to make the score 15-9 in favor of the hosts and the Tops began to sneak back into the frame. WKU pulled within two at 19-21 and cut that to one at 22-21, forcing GT's second timeout. After Tech pushed out to a 24-21 lead, WKU battled back one last time to make it a one-point match at 24-23 before Georgia Tech closed the match with a kill.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU used the lineup of Paige Briggs, Avri Davis, Lauren Matthews, Katie Isenbarger, Kayland Jackson, Nadia Dieudonne and Logan Kael at libero for the 14th time this season. This was the Hilltopper lineup to start the season and the group finished with a 12-2 record.
- With the win, Georgia Tech tied the all-time series between the programs at 1-1, with each team earning a sweeping. Both meetings have taken place in Atlanta.
- The Hilltoppers are now 4-2 against Power 5 opponents during the 2021 campaign. Four wins matches the program single-season record.
- WKU is now 7-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament while Kayland Jackson, Hallie Shelton and Taylor Bebout finished at 5-4 in the Tournament in their careers. Jackson and Shelton played in all nine of those matches, more than any other players in program history.
- With the loss, the Hilltoppers moved to 28-2 (12-0 C-USA) on the season, winning 21-consecutive matches before Saturday's loss.
- Already appearing in more matches than any other Hilltopper in program history, Shelton added three more to the WKU record for sets played at 518. The previous record of 510 was held by Lindsey Gould (2006-09).
- With the day's results, head coach Travis Hudson is now 693-218 across his career.
- WKU Volleyball is now up to an all-time program record of 971-493 with Saturday's result.
