Prior to the top-25 match up, the program recognized their five graduating seniors: Avri Davis, Jennifer Rush, Ashley Hood, Katie Isenbarger, and Lauren Matthews.
"You know it's a classic every time Western Kentucky and Rice play. That one may have outdone them all", noted head coach Travis Hudson. "The amount of guts it took us to fight back, the amount of guts it took for Rice to continually fight back, it was an incredible match and a storybook ending for our seniors."
In the five-set fight, numerous career-highs were seen. Redshirt freshman Callie Bauer, who collected her 1,000th career assist recorded 51 assists on the evening. True freshman libero Abby Schaefer was on it defensively, picked up 70 receptions for a .972 percentage and 13 digs inside Diddle Arena.
In front of the 1,399 crowd, both outside hitter Paige Briggs and Matthews in the middle collected double-doubles on the night, the first of the season.
WKU 3, RICE 2 - 25-19, 26-28, 26-24, 17-25, 16-14
SET 1
After Rice notched the first point, Kenadee Coyle got the Tops on the board with a kill. A jump ball won by Rice gave the Owls a 4-2 lead, but a Paige Briggs kill sent the Owls scrambling, bringing the Tops within one. An errant attack from Rice later tied the set at five apiece. Off back-to-back Owl errors, the Tops were the first to break 10, leading in a 10-7 frame. WKU added one more and Rice took the first timeout of the match. Out of the break Briggs added a kill to give the Tops a 12-7 advantage. After an Owl kill, WKU went on a 4-1 run capped by a Matthews kill forcing Rice to burn their second timeout of the set, leading 16-9. Katie Isenbarger later floated one behind the Owl front line in a 20-12 edge for the Red and White. Rice took five of the next six to cut the lead to five, but WKU answered with back-to-back points to take a 23-17 lead. Fitting to senior night and the best performance of her career, Lauren Matthews punctuated the first frame with a kill.
SET 2
Set two started with a service error by the Owls and Lauren Matthews answered with one of her own. WKU added two more before Rice got on the board leading 4-1, before Rice cut the lead to two on their 15th kill of the match with WKU. Paige Briggs later added the first ace at the service line from either team to take a 9-5 advantage. After the Tops took a five-point lead, the Owls fought back for five straight tying the set at 11 and forcing head coach Travis Hudson to call time. Katie Howard gave the Tops the lead back with a block on the left side to take the edge. The two squads went back and forth, trading the lead but back-to-back kills from Briggs and Isenbarger gave the Red and White a 20-19 lead and forced the Owls to call time. After Rice took a 22-21 lead, WKU tied the frame with their 29th kill of the match. Rice put the Tops against the wall but three straight points for the Hilltoppers and WKU had set point 25-24. The Owls then took the next two points, but a long serve over the back line tied the frame again. Rice closed out the set with the next two.
SET 3
Matthews and Coyle grabbed the first point of the third set with block assists. The pair struck again in the same spot to take a 2-0 advantage. Matthews contributed with her third block of the frame giving the Tops a 5-3 lead. Rice went on a 4-0 run to take a 9-6 lead forcing the Tops to burn a timeout. Out of the break, WKU pushed through with three straight, capped by an ace from Paige Briggs. Briggs backed that one up with another ace at the line, forcing Rice to call for a break. Rice regained the lead after the timeout, but WKU responded with two of their own in the longest rally of the match taking a 12-11 edge. Repeated, the Owls took a 13-12 lead followed by WKU regaining the lead at 15-14. At this point in the set, the Tops were holding the Owls to a hitting clip of .194. Rice fired off their 38th kill of the match tying the set at 16. Paige Briggs answered with her 10th kill of the match to give WKU the edge. WKU took their largest lead of the set since they led in the early points, off a service error, leading 20-18. The set once again was tied for the 13th time of the set. Rice regained the lead with back-to-back points taking a 23-22 edge. Lauren Matthews fired a kill down the line to knot things up. The two each grabbed points, finalized by Matthews dumping one over the net. Following back-to-back Hilltopper points, the Owls burned a timeout, not before WKU closed out the frame with a Katie Isenbarger block and the crowd inside Diddle Arena erupted.
SET 4
On a long rally, Lauren Matthews took the first kill of the set to bring the Red and White into a 1-0 lead. Rice responded with one of their own, but another kill by Matthews and the Tops were up 2-1. Rice then answered with five of their own to take a heavy 6-2 advantage. After a WKU timeout, the Owls picked up where they left off adding another kill to the stat sheet. Lauren Matthews ended their run with a kill, as the Hilltoppers are still trailing, 7-3. The Tops continued to play catchup cutting the deficit to four off an Owl error. A block from Matthews and Coyle followed by a kill from Coyle finally cut the margin down to two. Offensive adjustments by the Tops then cut the Owl lead down to one trailing, 11-10. Rice answered with four straight, forcing WKU into a timeout. Out of the break, Matthews recorded a kill, but Rice rebutted with three more points. Rice continued from there taking a 23-12 lead, the largest of the match. WKU quickly responded with a kill and an errant attack from the Owls, bringing the lead down to nine. Not going away quietly, the Tops added two more forcing Rice into a timeout down 23-16. Rice finished the set with two of the last three points and both opponents were headed into a fifth and final frame.
SET 5
WKU grabbed the first point of the final frame, credit Matthews' 23rd kill of the match. After Rice responded, Kenadee Coyle fired one cross court to take a 2-1 lead. The Owls tied the set a two each following a kill. Matthews then placed one just inside the back line for her second kill of the set. Matthews then stuffed the Owl frontline for a 4-2 Hilltopper lead. An ace from the Tops' leading server, Katie Howard, electrified the 1,399 crowd and forced Rice to burn a timeout. Out of the stoppage, Matthews notched yet another kill for a 6-2 lead. Back-to-back kills from the opposition and an error cut the lead down to one, 6-5. Matthews grabbed her 12th block of the match for a 7-5 edge, but Rice tied it with two of their own at seven apiece. A Callie Bauer dump over the net gave the Tops an 8-7 advantage as the team's switched benches. Rice tied things at eight, but an Isenbarger kill from the middle gave WKU a 9-8 lead. Once again, the fifth frame saw a tie, this time at nine. After Rice took the lead, the Tops tied the set at 10. Two more and Diddle Arena started to make some noise and the Owls called their second timeout. Rice tied things up out of the timeout, until another kill, and WKU was forced to take time now trailing. Rice found themselves at match point leading ,14-12. WKU responded with a kill and a block to tie the frame until Matthews punched another one over the net to take a 15-14 lead. No one other than All-American Lauren Matthews herself sealed the deal on the regular season title, notching her 30th kill of the match.
UP NEXT
The nationally ranked No. 22 Hilltoppers' will take a week of practice before taking the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Tournament on Friday, November 18. Western Kentucky is set to host the 2022 C-USA Volleyball Tournament for the second time in history, Nov. 18-20. All-session passes are now on sale and the matches will be available for viewership on ESPN+.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU used the lineup of Paige Briggs, Katie Howard, Lauren Matthews, Katie Isenbarger, Kenadee Coyle, Callie Bauer, and Abby Schaefer. This is the 27th time this season Coach Hudson has used this combination.
- In the series, WKU is holding the 10-3 edge over Rice as they leave the conference next season. The Tops have won the last five match ups against the Owls.
- Callie Bauer marked her 1000th career assist during the second set of the match. The redshirt freshman setter ended the day with 51 assists, her new career-high.
- Paige Briggs finished with a double-double on the evening, going for a team-high 19 digs and three aces, as well as a second-best 12 kills. Lauren Matthews also powered through with a double-double, recording a career-best 30 kills and 13 blocks. She is now tied in first with the most blocks in a single-match in program history.
- The Hilltoppers now stand at 26-2 and undefeated in C-USA play (14-0).
- Head coach Travis Hudson is now 719-220 across his career on the Hill.
- WKU Volleyball is now up to an all-time program record of 997-494.
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.
