Match Notes

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-The No. 20 Western Kentucky University volleyball team (17-3, 3-0 SBC) will put its nine-game win streak to the test on Tuesday, October 2, as the team travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to take on Sun Belt Conference rival Middle Tennessee (4-14, 1-2 SBC) at 7 p.m. in Alumni Memorial Gym.

Since starting the conference schedule last weekend, WKU has not lost a set, as the team has posted three-set sweeps over Troy, South Alabama and Louisiana. During those matches, sophomore Heather Boyan has led the team with 28 kills while redshirt junior Paige Wessel posted a .568 hitting percentage with 23 kills. The Lady Toppers are holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .099, as the team has a 143-103 edge in digs over the competition, led by junior Ashley Potts' 41.

Game Information

  • No. 20 WKU at MTSU; Tuesday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m.; Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Other Information

Quick Notes

  • On Monday, WKU made a three-spot jump in the AVCA Top 25 Poll to No. 20 after the team's 3-0 win at Louisiana. The ranking is the highest in program history and also marks the longest that WKU has been in the poll at three weeks.
  • After starting conference play with a perfect 3-0 record, WKU extends its winning streak to nine games, longest in the Sun Belt. Last season, WKU recorded a 14-game win streak that was broken with a 1-3 loss to MTSU in Bowling Green, which is also the last loss WKU has taken to a SBC opponent with the team winning 17 straight since then. The program's longest win streak came 10 years ago in 2002 with its 19-match spree taking them to the team's first ever NCAA appearance at Hawai'i.
  • WKU ranks in the top five in every statistical category in the SBC, including first in hitting percentage and assists for the overall season. Along with that, Lady Toppers stand in seven spots in five different categories for individual statistics, including three of the top four in hitting percentage (1. Wessel, 2. Stutsman, 4. Boyan).
  • In league-play stats, WKU ranks first in five of the seven categories while top five in the other two. Individually, Lady Toppers hold seven spots in four categories, as WKU has four in the top 10 in hitting percentage (2. Wessel, 3. Stutsman, 4. Boyan, 7. Langenkamp).
  • The Lady Toppers have held their last three opponents to under a .190 match hitting percentage with two of the three having a match hitting percentage of .040 and .070 (Troy and Louisiana, respectively). The team's defense has even held eight out of its last nine opponents to match hitting percentages of less than a .190 mark.
  • In the series with MTSU, WKU has won the last two meetings, a 3-2 match at MTSU and a 3-1 contest for the SBC Tournament title. Before that, WKU had lost seven in a row to the Blue Raiders.
  • WKU and MTSU have made it a routine to meet three times a year. Since 2007, the teams have played each other in the two regular season games and then met in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Of the five tournament meetings since 2007, three of them have been the championship match, as WKU took the one in 2011 while MTSU took the other two in 2007 and 2010.