WKU Volleyball’s season came to an end on Thursday with a 3-1 loss to Minnesota. Four Hilltoppers finished in double digit kills while freshman pin hitter Alivia Skidmore led the charge with a .389 hitting clip and 17 total kills.
Source: Western Kentucky University Athletics
Courtesy Photo by: Savannah Philpot/WKU Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – WKU Volleyball’s season came to an end on Thursday with a 3-1 loss to Minnesota. Four Hilltoppers finished in double digit kills while freshman pin hitter Alivia Skidmore led the charge with a .389 hitting clip and 17 total kills.
The Hilltoppers end their season with a 28-7 record, a perfect 18-0 record in Conference USA play, as well as their ninth CUSA tournament title and 10th CUSA regular season championship.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: 25-22
Skidmore led the way in the first frame with six kills while the Hilltoppers collected a total of six team blocks. Three different Hilltoppers finished with two blocks each, redshirt junior setter Callie Bauer, sophomore middle hitter Izzy Van De Wiele, and freshman outside hitter Faith Young. Both Van De Wiele and senior pin hitter Kaylee Cox also recorded one solo block each. Bauer also cruised to double digit kills, closing out set one with a total of 10. Both Bauer and junior libero Abby Schaefer finished with four digs.
Set 2: 25-22
Minnesota came out quick in the second set, going on a 6-0 run to lead 11-5 and eventually win 25-22. Skidmore put up another five kills while Cox, Faith, and Young chipped in three of their own. Schaefer and Bauer led the second set defensively with two digs each while Bauer grabbed another 13 assists.
Set 3: 25-19
WKU fought back in the penultimate frame, logging a total of 16 kills to Minnesota’s 13. The Hilltoppers showed off their balanced offense with Cox grabbing six kills, Coyle with four, and Skidmore and Young with three. The Hilltopper defense also added another three total blocks to bring the match total to nine. Van De Wiele was responsible for two of those blocks. WKU also closed out the third set on a 7-0 run.
Set 4: 25-23
Six different Hilltoppers contributed in the final set while Coyle came out on top in set four with four kills while Cox, Skidmore, and Young all added three to their match totals. Senior outside hitter Katie Howard registered the lone service of the match. Cox led in the back row with five digs while Bauer recorded another 12 assists.
NOTABLES
- The Hilltoppers finished with four players in double digit kills with Skidmore leading with 17.
- Alivia Skidmore registered a career high seven digs
- Callie Bauer finished with 51 assists
- Izzy Van De Wiele finished with four blocks, including one solo effort
- Both Kaylee Cox and Abby Schaefer finished with double digit digs while Schaefer led with 17
Travis Hudson on Match Against Minnesota
“Well, this is, man, this is one of those once every couple year matches where you pick up a box score afterwards. You know, we out-hit Minnesota, we out-blocked Minnesota, we out-dug Minnesota, and still found our way to the bottom of the score. It sure doesn’t happen very often in our sport, but it happened today. You know serving obviously is going to be a big question. I’m with you on that. I mean, serving is the area you’ve got to attack Minnesota, and we just, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know if we talked about it too much or what we did, but we just weren’t good from the service line, clearly. You know, the fact that we did that from the service line, and still, you know, we’re in a position to win the match. I think it says what this team turned into, because we weren’t that early in the year and we turned into a team that I think, if you watched and you know anything about volleyball, you realize we can really play.”