For the first time in Conference USA history a league team has four-peated as the league’s postseason tournament champion after WKU Volleyball claimed today’s championship tilt in four sets over top-seeded North Texas. Using a boisterous Diddle Arena crowd to its advantage, the Lady Toppers have secured their fourth-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
“A tremendous thank you to the community, to Bowling Green,” head coach Travis Hudson shared. “The people of Bowling Green created a memory for our kids today that no amount of money or no amount of anything could’ve given them. I will be eternally grateful to the people of Bowling Green for coming out and creating an environment that will be unforgettable to these kids throughout their lives. Every time they step foot back in Diddle Arena, they’re going to have a memory that’ll stay with them. There’s nothing that can replace that. I’m tremendously grateful to the people of Bowling Green community and Hilltopper Nation.”
Rachel Anderson brought home her second-straight Conference USA Volleyball Championship MVP honor while Jessica Lucas and Alyssa Cavanaugh also earned nods to the All-Tournament Team. Cavanaugh has landed on the team three times in her career and Lucas twice.
With three wins on the weekend, Hudson and company have posted their fourth-straight 30-win campaign now owning a 30-3 mark on the season. The Red and White finished with the most wins at home since 2012 as well, going 15-0 inside Diddle Arena. The unblemished mark is the fifth time in WKU Volleyball history that a team has finished undefeated at home for an entire season. Additionally, WKU has now won the last two conference tournaments it has hosted.
While North Texas won’t get the automatic bid from the league, the squad is on the bubble as an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament and also has the potential to play in the NIVC. The Mean Green is now 28-3 on the year after their first C-USA Championship match appearance since joining the league.
“What a year North Texas has had. I really hope they get the benefit of the doubt in terms of at large selections to the NCAA Tournament,” Hudson said of Coach Andrew Palileo’s North Texas squad. “They are a quality team and they’re tremendously well coached. They walked into a tough environment today to play in. They’ve had an unbelievable year and I have so much respect for them and I think they’re worthy of being an NCAA Tournament team and hope they get the opportunity.”
WKU got off to a hot start on the day, opening up a 6-0 lead before the Mean Green finally got on the board. North Texas called its final timeout of the set trailing 13-7. Out of the break, the WKU lead grew to seven thanks to the combined block from Amara Listenbee and Sydney Engle to make it 16-9. The Red and White lead grew to eight at 22-14 and Darby Music followed with an ace to extend the margin to nine. Taylor Dellinger gave WKU set point with a kill and Lucas closed things up by winning a joust at the net for the 25-15 Lady Topper win. The first set score was identical to the opening frame score from Denton, Texas, during the regular season. WKU worked at a .314 clip, paced by six Anderson kills. North Texas registered a .034 hitting percentage in the frame with just eight kills.
The Lady Toppers kept their foot on the gas to start set two, opening a 3-0 lead before the Mean Green got on the board. WKU worked ahead to an 8-2 advantage to force another early timeout. Keeping things moving, the Red and White pushed out to a double-digit 16-6 lead to force North Texas’ second stoppage. With the margin remaining in double digits or right around it, the Lady Toppers went ahead 21-11 in set two. North Texas pushed back within six at 23-17 but WKU ultimately prevailed with the 25-17 set two win. The Lady Toppers worked at a .441 hitting clip in the frame with 16 kills.
Following the break, WKU Volleyball struck first again, taking a quick 2-0 lead before North Texas responded and tied things up. The Lady Toppers pushed ahead to an 8-3 lead but the Mean Green fought back to tie things up. After North Texas took its first lead of the match, WKU opted for a timeout trailing 15-11 in set three. Coming out of its second stoppage down 18-11, the Lady Toppers ended the North Texas run to start their comeback. Late in the set, WKU put together a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to two points as the Mean Green called their second timeout at 21-19. North Texas pulled away late to avoid the sweep by taking set three 25-20.
Opening up the first three-point lead for either side in set four, WKU forced North Texas to use its first stoppage as the Mean Green trailed 12-8. UNT tallied three-straight points to pull within one before a service error hindered the comeback. WKU pushed back and took a four-point lead before North Texas responded again with a pair of points to remain within two. In their own retaliation, the Lady Toppers grew the margin back to four to force another North Texas timeout at 19-15. The first to 20, WKU was ahead by five before North Texas cut the lead to just one, forcing a WKU stoppage. Responding out of the break, Lucas won a joust at the net for a 21-19 lead. WKU scored again on a North Texas attack error before the Mean Green recorded their final two points of the match on back-to-back kills. Anderson posted kills for the 23-21 and 24-21 advantage before combining with Dellinger on a block for the championship point.
Dellinger owned four of her career-high seven blocks in the fourth set alone. As a team, WKU racked up five combined stops in the frame with five different Lady Toppers getting into the action. The Red and White finished with 15 blocks on the four-set match. Fifteen blocks marks the seventh time this season Hudson’s unit has notched double-digit stuff and 15 marks the second-highest total for the Red and White on the season.
Outblocking the Mean Green 15-6 on the day proved to be one of the biggest differences in the match. All other stat categories saw both sides but up even numbers. While WKU finished with 52 kills against UNT’s 50, the Mean Green out-dug the hosts 59-56.
“We’re defending at the highest level we have all year,” Hudson said of his squad. “Our floor defense was great. Our two freshmen, Hallie [Shelton] and Darby [Music] played phenomenal in left back. Emma Kowalkowski’s been solid ever since we moved her to middle back. It took a while to find ourselves from a defensive standpoint. The way we blocked today, 15 blocks, four aces, five errors. If you can remember, our first four or five matches this year, we were throwing three aces and 14 errors on the board… We’ve come a long way in terms of the things we’re doing. Hopefully we have a great week and we put the best version of us out there when we get to the NCAA Tournament.”
In addition to her offensive facilitator role, Lucas also racked up a team-high 13 digs for her 10th double-double of the season and second in as many days. Lucas finished with 39 assists, six kills and a service ace in the championship.
Connecting well with the offense, Lucas and Anderson teamed up the most as Anderson finished with a match-high 15 kills and .462 hitting percentage. She tied with Dellinger for the team lead in blocks at seven each.
Also notching double-digit kills was the Conference USA Player of the Year, Cavanaugh who finished with 10. Dellinger finished with nine while Engle chipped in seven. Engle added eight digs, seven assists and six blocks as well.
Amara Listenbee matched Engle with six blocks. Kayland Jackson finished with a pair of stops as well to round out the Lady Topper block.
WKU finished with a .272 hitting clip on the day while limiting the explosive North Texas unit to a .137 rate.
Selection Show party details will be announced later this week as the Lady Toppers will host a watch party for the community. WKU’s seniors are the first Lady Toppers in program history to advance to the NCAA Tournament all four years of their careers on The Hill. The 2017 automatic bid marks the programs ninth of the sort and 11th overall appearance in The Dance – all coming under Hudson.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU.
-@WKUSports-
________________
Jessica Leifheit
Assistant Director
WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations
