BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Following a three game road sweep over the weekend, WKU Volleyball suffered their first loss of the season, 3-0, playing host to No. 3 Louisville for the first time since the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The third ranked Cardinals were the highest ranked team the Hilltoppers have squared off with, as the prior was No. 5 Wisconsin in 2015. Lauren Matthews finished with eight kills, Paige Briggs ended the night with five kills and six digs. Redshirt freshman Callie Bauer led the way in assists with 18. Western Kentucky held their northern neighbors to only a .183 hitting percentage, the lowest hitting clip in a match on the Cardinals since 2019.
Senior Paige Briggs joined the 1000-kill club Wednesday night in the third set of play. Briggs joins teammate Lauren Matthews in recording 1000 kills on the current roster of Hilltoppers. Briggs is in the top 20th all time in kills by a Hilltopper at 1,002.
Wednesday Night brought 3,811 fans all dressed in a sea of white. "I can't possibly thank the city of Bowling Green and the Western community for coming out and supporting us like they did. There was our entire marching band and it was just a phenomenal, phenomenal atmosphere for our kids to play in.", noted head coach Travis Hudson. 3,811 ranks third in all-time attendance in Hilltopper Volleyball history and is the most-attended game in WKU regular season history.Â
WKU vs. Louisville – 18-25, 15-25, 17-25
Set 1
The Cardinals kicked off the scoring in set one followed by a Lauren Matthews kill, to tie the game at one a piece. The Cards rolled off nine straight to jump out to a commanding 10-1 lead. The Hilltoppers battled back multiple times, cutting the lead to six on two occasions. The Tops cut the lead to six, trailing 19-13, aided by a pair of kills by Matthews and Bauer and a block. The two teams traded points from there on with Louisville notching a kill, taking the first frame. WKU held Louisville to a -.105 hitting clip, their lowest in a set on the season.
Set 2
Set two opened with a Kenadee Coyle block, followed by a pair of kills from Louisville and an answer from Matthews to even things up at two. The Hilltoppers were first to reach double digits, leading 10-9, thanks to another kill from Jennifer Rush, assisted by Abby Schaefer. Louisville responded with six unanswered to take a 15-10 lead. The Tops scored five more times in the frame but could never close the gap, falling 25-15 in set two.Â
Set 3
Starting off with a Jennifer Rush kill, the Cardinals called back with another. The Hilltoppers answered with a pair off a Matthews kill and a Louisville error, to take a 3-1 lead. WKU led 4-2 before Louisville tallied three straight to grab a 5-4 lead. Paige Briggs recorded a kill which tied things up at five. That kill by Briggs was her 1000th career kill as a Hilltopper, in front of a record crowd of 3,811. Later on in the set, Louisville led 12-10 before Lauren Matthews recorded a kill followed by a Paige Briggs kill to tie the set at 12. The Tops and Cards traded points before each team won three straight points with the Hilltoppers bringing up the latter. In that frame, Katie Isenbarger recorded a pair of kills, tying the match up at 16. Down the stretch, Louisville went on a 9-1 run, taking set three (25-17) and the match.
"There will be a lot of people that think we're gonna go away but I'll appreciate them later in the year when they see that we don't.", Hudson said. "We just have to attack it, we're not gonna hide from it, our program doesn't hide from things and we know what put us in the position we were in tonight and we gotta be better doing it moving forward."
NEXT UP
The Hilltoppers will be back in action Friday morning at 10 a.m. CT as they take on DePaul as part of the Hampton Inn Invitational, hosted by Bowling Green.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU continued with the same lineup as Paige Briggs, Callie Bauer, Lauren Matthews, Kenadee Coyle, Katie Isenbarger, Katie Howard and Abby Schaefer (libero) earned starts on the day.
- Lauren Matthews led the Tops in kills with 8 while also picking up three blocks and notching 10 points for the Red and White.
- Senior Paige Briggs marked her 1,000 career kill against Louisville. She became the next Hilltopper in program history to bench four digits with 1,002.
- Katie Isenbarger marked a season-high four blocks up against the Birds, leading the Tops. Following suit with three was Matthews, and sophomore Kenadee Coyle.
- The Hilltoppers played their highest-ranked opponent in program history, as Louisville was ranked No. 3 this week.
- The 3,811 crowd ranks third in all-time attendance and was the most-attended game of the regular season in program history.
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.Â
