Matthews', Briggs' Double Doubles Lift Hilltoppers Over West Virginia

Friday, March 12

Bowling Green, Ky.

5 p.m. CT

Western Kentucky University

-140; 80 CUSA

West Virginia

8-88-9; Big 12

West Virginia

WKU

Matthews', Briggs' Double Doubles Lift Hilltoppers Over West Virginia

3/12/2021 9:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Post-Match Press Conference

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – No. 21 WKU Volleyball earned a 3-1 victory over West Virginia in front of a maximum-capacity crowd of 1,203 fans inside E.A. Diddle Arena Friday night. The Red and White dropped just their third set of the season as WVU claimed the first frame but the Hilltoppers got the final say and earned their first-ever win over a Big 12 squad.

"First of all, hats off to West Virginia; they came in having to do a tough thing," opened WKU Volleyball head coach Travis Hudson. "They've had a long layout since they played their season in the fall. It's tough to play somebody that's got several matches under their belts like we do. So, hats off to them. They're a good team and everybody knows they're a good team."

"And hats off to our fans; man, it was so nice to play a match that wasn't at noon on a Monday," continued Hudson. "We were finally able to get a Friday evening match in there and boy did our fan base turn out. It's so exciting to see how they've embraced our program and our team. This really makes me look forward to fall when we'll hopefully get back to normal and Diddle can look like that every night."

With the win, WKU is now 14-0 on the season and finished with a perfect 12-0 record in Diddle Arena on the spring. The contest marked the first non-conference match of the 2020-21 season for the Mountaineers and was also their first match since the fall as WVU moved to 8-9 on the year.

WKU finished with three Hilltoppers in both double-digit kills and double-digit digs not to mention a pair of double-double performances.

Evening play opened as expected, with the sides trading points and neither team pulling away. While West Virginia was the first to 10, the Hilltoppers responded right back. After the set was tied at 10, WKU went on a five-point run extending their lead to 15-10 behind two kills from Lauren Matthews. West Virginia went on a run of their own and came back to take the lead at 17-16. WVU's defense helped extend their lead to 21-18 and force a Hilltopper timeout. Coming out of the break, the Tops scored four straight tying the game at 22. Kills from Matthews and Avri Davis helped keep the Tops close but WVU finished on a run winning the set 25-23.

Set two opened just like the first, with neither team pulling away and multiple ties. With a block by Kayland Jackson, WKU was able to extend their lead to 11-9. Behind good defense and another kill by Jackson, the WKU lead pushed to 14-10 forcing a Mountaineer timeout. Out of the break, West Virginia responded with a run behind a balanced offensive and defensive attack tying the frame at 16. WVU would never get closer than 23 though as the Hilltoppers reciprocated the 25-23 score to the Mountaineers.

Out of the long break, neither team would lead by more than one within the first 10 points. Strong serving from Hallie Shelton and a kill by Paige Briggs WKU extended WKU's lead to 14-11, forcing the Mountaineers to call a timeout. Shelton continued her steady serving and the Hilltopper lead grew to 16-11. West Virginia finally rallied to make the score 16-15 and forced a WKU timeout. When play resumed, WKU extended its lead to 22-17 forcing another West Virginia timeout. WVU scored two points in a row but after blocks from Kayland Jackson and Matthews, WKU never looked back, winning the set 25-22 for a 2-1 lead in the match. The Red and White finished the set with a .462 hitting percentage – their best of the match – while holding WVU to .094 – its lowest mark of the night.

Four-straight blocks from Matthews helped WKU jump out to an early 5-3 lead in the fourth set. Matthews continued to dominate on both sides of the net with multiple blocks and kills extending the Hilltopper lead to 11-4. West Virginia was able to cut the Hilltopper lead to 14-10, but could never come closer than four. Behind a balanced offensive and defensive attack WKU won the set and the match 25-19.

Matthews finished with 18 kills on 35 attempts for a .371 hitting percentage as well as a career-high 10 blocks for the first double-double performance of her career. Matthews owned just one block entering the third set where she would add four before adding five more in the fourth frame. Matthews joins Briggs and Nadia Dieudonne as Hilltoppers with double doubles this season.

Dieudonne tallied 49 assists as the senior facilitated the Hilltopper offense to a .324 rate on the night. Dieudonne added five digs, three blocks and a pair of kills to her statline for the match.

Davis tallied 10 kills on .364 hitting to go along with a career-high four blocks and a dig.

Briggs registered her eighth double-double of her sophomore campaign with 15 kills and 14 digs. She worked at a .308 hitting clip to go along with two assists and an ace.

The Hilltopper libero for the evening – Hallie Shelton – would finish with her fourth double-digit dig match of the season as she stepped in for an injured Logan Kael.

Ashley Hood joined Shelton and Briggs with double-digit digs, posting 11 on the evening. Hood also added an ace and assist.

The Hilltoppers held West Virginia to a .220 hitting percentage thanks to 55 digs and 12 blocks on the match.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Tops (14-0) will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., next Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21 to play Middle Tennessee in WKU's second-to-last series of the regular season.

WIESEMANN ORTHODONTICS
Your 2020-21 WKU Volleyball spring season is presented by Wiesemann Orthodontics – get the smile you have always wanted!

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.