"Tonight is easily one of my favorite nights of the year", said head coach Travis Hudson. "Getting to see Harlie shine, she's so embedded in our program, it's amazing. In this match, we had to bring the energy. Come home, be in front of a great crowd and play for such a meaningful reason."
Briggs operated with a .522 hitting clip to pair with her 14 kills. Kaylee Cox and Kenadee Coyle followed suit with eight and seven kills apiece. It was a light night on defense, as WKU only stuffed two blocks: a solo stop for Gabby Weihe and block assist off the hands of Cox and Logan Grevengoed.
WKU 3, Sam Houston 0: 25-11, 25-14, 25-17
Set 1
Paige Briggs opened up the frame with a shot to the Bearkats' back row to open up the scoring in the CUSA match up inside Diddle Arena. Sam Houston answered back from a Hilltopper sideout, before a setter dump from Callie Bauer and three back-to-back kills from Briggs on the left side ran the Tops on four straight. WKU would gain momentum on a 5-1 run, forcing long-tenured Sam Houston head coach Brenda Gray to burn a timeout. Sam Houston edged the Tops slightly, winning a battle with a 4-2 run before a kill down the line from Kaylee Cox would give WKU the ball back. Cox would serve up an ace, followed by kills from Briggs and Bauer to give the Red and White a 10-point lead. SHSU would lead on to hit double-digits on the board, before a shot down the middle from freshman Gabby Weihe would gain traction for three straight for the home team. WKU would capitalize on four in a row, ending the first set with a kill from freshman Izzy Van De Wiele.
Set 2
One of two WKU blocks kicked off the middle set off the hands of Kaylee Cox and Logan Grevengoed. Sam Houston would rally on to take the next three points, followed by an errant Hilltopper serve and kill from the Bearkats' Payton Woods to wage a 5-3 lead and their only lead of the entire match. The Tops fought back. Running on six straight points, the Red and White saw two kills from the right side of the court by Kenadee Coyle and three Paige Briggs service aces, ending on back-to-back shots that forced a Sam Houston timeout. Out of the break, SHSU and WKU traded off two points apiece until an attacking error from the Bearkats would give the Tops a five-point lead. After trading points back-and-forth on the court, the Tops would wrap up the frame with six points in a row, ending the set with three Paige Briggs aces back-to-back.
Set 3
Three straight Hilltopper points would polish off the final set of the evening conference match. A Sam Houston sideout and kill from McKenzie Morvant would bring the Bearkats within one. A kill from Paige Briggs cut them down before senior Cameron Mosley would sub in to serve. Both teams would rally on the board, until WKU waged three points in a row: all kills from the front line of Kenadee Coyle, Callie Bauer, and Logan Grevengoed. Sam Houston would answer back with three of their own before the squads would duke out points back-and-forth on the board. At the 18-13 mark, WKU would slide on a 5-1 run to hit just before the penultimate point. The Kats didn't quit, working on a Hilltopper hitting error and Sam Houston's lone ace of the match, before an errant serve into the net on SHSU's side would give WKU the victory.
POST-MATCH NOTES
- WKU started Callie Bauer, Paige Briggs, Kelsey Brangers, Kaylee Cox, Logan Grevengoed, Gabby Weihe, and freshman Abby Schaefer in at libero.
- After the programs' first meeting in 1986, WKU and Sam Houston are now tied all-time, 1-1.
- Fifth-year outside hitter Paige Briggs broke the program record with 10 aces from the service line tonight. Briggs was two digs shy of a triple-double, pairing 14 kills and eight digs to her aces.
- Also posting a .522 hitting clip, Briggs' aces surpassed Beaven Hill Raymond (9/29/00) and head coach Travis Hudsons' wife Cindy Wiseman Hudson (10/29/91) with nine each. Both happened to be in attendance at tonight's match.
- Setter Callie Bauer played some offense for the Red and White, hitting five kills for a .444 clip along with 35 assists.
- In her second 20-dig outing of the season, libero Abby Schaefer picked up 20 digs from the back row.
- The Hilltoppers are back in Diddle Arena for round two against Sam Houston tomorrow, Oct. 21. Audio streaming is available on the Varsity Network App.
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.
