Tops Sweep 11th Match of Season; Hold FIU to Single Digits in Two Sets

Monday, March 8

Bowling Green, Ky.

Noon CT

Western Kentucky University

-130; 80 CUSA

FIU

-18; 17 CUSA

FIU

WKU

Tops Sweep 11th Match of Season; Hold FIU to Single Digits in Two Sets

3/8/2021 4:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Press Conference Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – No. 21 WKU Volleyball improved to 13-0 on the season adding another sweep of FIU on Monday. Once again, defense was the name of the game for the Hilltoppers as they held FIU to a .000 hitting percentage. The Red and White claimed the decision by scores of 25-14, 25-8 and 25-9 over the Panthers as FIU became the first team WKU has held to single points in two different sets this season.

"This was a pretty convincing win again today," opened WKU Volleyball head coach Travis Hudson. "We did some good things and had an opportunity to work on some things which is nice to do in a game situation and I was glad to do that. Sometimes it's hard to stay focused when you do that but I thought for the most part our kids stayed pretty sharp and allowed us to work on things so all in all it's a pretty positive day."

WKU has swept their opponent in 11 of 13 matches so far this season, which breaks down to a 39-2 record by sets. The Hilltoppers improved to 8-0 in Conference USA matches with the sweep of FIU, who is now 1-8 overall and 1-7 in league matches.

Like Sunday, FIU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first set until WKU scored three straight and took the lead on a kill by Lauren Matthews. FIU kept it close for the first part of the frame, cutting the lead to one at 9-8. Following that, the Hilltoppers went on a 9-1 run, led by Kayland Jackson, Avri Davis and Matthews, combing for nine kills during the run. Following an FIU timeout, an ace by Hallie Shelton extended WKU's lead to 22-10. The Tops won the first set by a score of 25-14, after a kill by Paige Briggs ended it. WKU operated at an offensive clip of .290, and held FIU to a .133 hitting percentage.

In set two, the Tops came out swinging, going on a 9-1 run to begin the set. The WKU defense continued its dominance, holding the Panthers to only eight points in the frame and a -.111 hitting percentage. WKU upped its attack rate to .562 and totaled 10 kills on 16 attempts. The Tops took the second set by a score of 25-8.

Set three was a continuation of the previous frame as the Hilltoppers jumped out to another early lead, going up 7-4. That was the closest FIU would get as the Tops followed that up with a 14-0 run capped off by three-straight kills from Briggs, who finished with eight kills in the set, and forced FIU to use a timeout. WKU went on to win the third set, 25-9. The Hilltopper defense once again held FIU to a negative hitting percentage at -.028, while their offense hit at .414.

Briggs finished with 14 kills on 27 attempts for a .481 hitting percentage as well as eight digs, one block and one assist.

Matthews racked up eight kill on a .538 hitting clip to go along with a match-best four blocks while Jackson added six kills of her own to go along with three blocks.

Nadia Dieudonne had 33 assists as well as six digs while facilitating the majority of WKU's .395 collective hitting percentage.

Ashley Hood led the defensive effort with a match-high 10 digs while Hallie Shelton added seven of her own along with four more aces. Shelton finished with 10 aces across the weekend.

The Hilltoppers held FIU to a .000 hitting percentage on the match – the six time this season holding an opponent to a sub-.100 mark, and third time holding a team to .000 or below.

With two more single-digit sets for its opponents, WKU has now held five different opponents to a total of six sets in single-digit scoring.

LOOKING AHEAD
West Virginia (8-8) will be coming to Bowling Green on Friday, March 12 at 5 p.m. CT to play WKU in the Hilltoppers' first non-conference match in two months.

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.