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"I continue to be amazed by this group," opened head coach Travis Hudson following the Hilltoppers' win over Wake Forest. "For the things that make our program special, today we put that on display. We played the late game last night and had to grind and didn't play particularly well and we had to get up to this challenge. I told you we don't make excuses and you saw a bunch of kids out there that didn't. We played back-to-back Power Five schools and our third match in less than 24 hours but we just continue to get better and better."
"Man, our program is special," continued Hudson. "And too many times when people think this program is special, my name comes up and it's not me, it's a group of kids that just love wearing that jersey and care a lot about me, this program and each other and it's just a really special thing."
Nadia Dieudonne earned LUV Invite MVP honors while Lauren Matthews and Paige Briggs joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
WKU vs. KANSAS – 25-11, 25-22, 25-17
Set 1
Katie Isenbarger opened the day with a 4-0 run from the service line including an ace. Kansas pulled back with 6-5 before WKU went on a 10-2 run to open up a 16-7 advantage. The Jayhawks battled back with a few points to an 18-11 before the Hilltoppers closed the frame on a 7-0 run for the 25-11 win. WKU operated at a .538 clip while holding Kansas in the negative at -.042. Lauren Matthews tallied seven kills on her own while Kayland Jackson added five.
Set 2
Kansas opened set two with a quick 5-1 lead but the Hilltoppers responded back to within 6-5 early in the frame. The Jayhawks hit double digits first with a 10-8 lead and the sides would trade small runs out to a 16-16 tie. From there, a solo block from Matthews gave the Tops a 17-16 lead they would not relinquish. WKU worked up to a 24-19 advantage before Kansas pulled within 24-22 but a Jackson kill closed the set at 25-22 in favor of the Red and White. The Hilltoppers rattled off 18 kills in the frame on 49 attacks as the set saw six ties and four lead changes.
Set 3
The Jayhawks scored the opening point of set three but the Hilltoppers would tally the next six off the serve of Ashley Hood. WKU pushed into double digits with a 10-3 advantage and Hood's second ace of the frame gave the Tops a 16-11 lead to force Kansas' second called timeout. KU pulled back within three at 16-13 out of the break but WKU outscored the Jayhawks 9-4 to close a 25-17 set-three win.
WKU's offensive operated at a .340 hitting clip while the defense stifled Kansas to a .129 rate and held the Jayhawks to just 28 total kills. The Hilltoppers racked up eight aces and five blocks to go along with 54 digs.
For the third-straight match, Matthews (17), Jackson (11) and Briggs (10) worked into double-digit kills. Briggs tallied her third double double of the season, adding 17 digs. Hood joined her in double digits with 10.
Hood, Logan Kael and Hallie Shelton each added a pair of aces for the Tops while Isenbarger and Briggs chipped in one apiece.
WKU vs. WAKE FOREST – 25-20, 25-21, 25-13
Set 1
After Wake Forest hopped out to a 7-4 lead to open play, the Hilltoppers turned the tables with a 5-0 run to take a 9-7 lead they would hold the rest of the way. Out of the Demon Deacons' timeout, WKU kept its foot on the gas for a 15-8 lead. Wake Forest fended off three set points before Matthews closed the frame with a kill for the 25-20 first set win. WKU racked up six team blocks in the set with Isenbarger getting a hand in all of them.
Set 2
Set two saw the Hilltoppers hit double digits first for an 11-9 lead before a 3-0 Wake Forest run forced a WKU timeout. The Demon Deacons would own as much as a 19-14 lead before Matthews struck for three kills in the span of four points, bringing the score to 19-16. Wake Forest sided out for a 20-16 advantage before a 4-0 run for the Tops knotted the set at 20-20. A kill from the Deacs made it 21-20 before the Red and White closed the frame on a 5-0 run off the serve of Logan Kael.
"Boy, did we dig in," Hudson said about the Tops' response out of their timeout trailing 16-12. "It was really keyed by some great serving at the end. Hallie Shelton, as usual, made a great run from the service line and we were able to start dropping some short serves in on the big middle and it disrupted their offense and gave us a few easy points. Next thing you know, we look up and it's a tie game and we found a way to win it."
Set 3
WKU took a quick 4-1 lead over Wake Forest to open set three, as Matthews struck for kills for three of those early points. A 5-0 run would soon push the Hilltopper lead to 10-4 followed by a 16-6 advantage. WKU closed out the frame by scoring six of the last seven points for the 25-13 decisive win to secure the sweep.
Dieudonne led the Hilltoppers to a .300 hitting percentage while Wake Forest was held to a .071 clip. The fifth-year setter from Louisville tallied 34 assists to go along with seven digs, two kills and an ace.
WKU racked up 11 blocks to the Demon Deacons' six. The lone category Wake Forest led the Hilltoppers in was aces, holding a 6-4 advantage.
Isenbarger would finish with eight blocks in the three-set sweep to match her career high set in 2019 against Kennesaw State. Matthews and Dieudonne each would add three blocks each.
Matthews led WKU in kills with 16 and a .448 hitting percentage. Briggs was close behind at 14 kills on 28 errorless swings for a .500 efficiency. Briggs added 10 digs for her second double double of the day and fourth of the season.
Kael added nine digs for the Tops to go along with another ace, bring her season total to seven through the first six matches.
SCHEDULE
Friday, September 3 – No. 15 WKU def. Lipscomb, 3-1
Saturday, September 4 –No. 15 WKU def. Kansas, 3-0
Saturday, September 4 –No. 15 WKU def. Wake Forest, 3-0
NEXT UP
After two weekends on the road to open the season, WKU Volleyball is headed back to Diddle Arena for the next three weekends. The Tops will host back-to-back weekend tournaments before Marshall comes to town to open Conference USA play.
Flexible season ticket packages are on sale now and include 13 vouchers that fans can use at any regular-season home match in whatever fashion they choose. Fans can opt for the traditional use of one ticket for all 13 home matches or bring a group to a few matches. Flexible ticket packages are available for $50 at WKUTickets.com, by calling 1-800-5-BIGRED or by coming to the WKU Ticket Office during regular business hours.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU kept its same starting lineup from the spring all weekend in Nashville with Paige Briggs, Nadia Dieudonne, Avri Davis, Lauren Matthews, Kayland Jackson, Logan Kael and Katie Isenbarger. This combination is 6-0 on the season.
- WKU picked up its first-ever win over the Jayhawks to open play on Saturday. The Tops are now 1-2 all-time against Kansas but have now claimed their last two meetings against Big 12 opponents after never owning a win of the sort prior to March 12th's win over West Virginia.
- The Hilltoppers closed the day with their second win over an ACC opponent of the season, downing Wake Forest to improve to 3-0 all-time against the Demon Deacons.
- Paige Briggs turned in double doubles in both of Saturday's matches and is up to four on the season and 32 across her career.
- WKU swept two Power Five teams on the same day for the first time in program history on Saturday. The only other time the Hilltoppers had won two matches in the same day against Power Five squads came on Sept. 14, 2012 when WKU downed Duke and No. 22 Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- The Tops are now 17-12 against Power Five opposition since joining Conference USA prior to the 2014 campaign.
- Three Hilltoppers worked into double-digit kills for the second time in as many matches as Matthews (15), Briggs (14) and Jackson (10) all hit double figures against Kansas.
- With the wins, head coach Travis Hudson is now 672-216 across his career.
- WKU Volleyball is now up to an all-time program record of 951-491 with Saturday's Power Five sweeps.
