No. 24 WKU Volleyball is headed to an in-state early season tournament for the first time since the 2012 campaign with the Louisville-hosted Cardinal Classic on deck for the weekend. The Lady Toppers will face a pair of Power 5 squads in Louisville and Illinois, in less than a 24 hour span, before closing weekend action late Saturday afternoon with Kent State.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 1 – at Louisville | 5:30 p.m. CT | Stats | ACC Network Extra
Saturday, Sept. 2 – vs. Illinois | 9:30 a.m. CT | Stats
Saturday, Sept. 2 – vs. Kent State | 4:30 p.m. CT | Stats
Entering Friday night’s matchup with the hosts, WKU has never been able to outlast the Cardinals as Louisville owns a 15-0 all-time advantage over the Lady Toppers. Coming off of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge during opening weekend, the Cardinals own a deceptive 0-2 record entering their home opener Friday evening. Louisville has a new coach running the show in Dani Busboom Kelly and returns five starters plus the libero from last year’s 12-18 squad.
Saturday morning Travis Hudson and company will face a team with a new leader at the helm for the third-straight match this season in the program’s first meeting with Illinois. With Chris Tamas now at the helm, the Fighting Illini return three starters and the libero from last season’s squad that went 17-14. Illinois is 3-0 on the 2017 campaign after winning its opening weekend tournament at Montana State.
Weekend action will close with WKU taking on Kent State (1-2) on Saturdayafternoon from Louisville’s Cardinal Arena. WKU owns a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Golden Flashes. Kent State return 13 letterwinners from last year’s .500 squad (15-15) including four starters and the libero.
Following WKU’s Tuesday night non-conference victory over Tennessee State in the 2017 Diddle Arena opener, Coach Hudson touched on the upcoming weekend atmosphere at Louisville and his expectations.
“They’re opening a newly renovated Cardinal Arena, beautiful facility they’ve put together for them. It’s a sellout already and it’s going to be crazy in there. They’ve got a new coach and they’re all excited. The challenge is going to be great, they’re going to be really good and really tough to beat. We have to wake up the next morning and play Illinois out of the Big Ten, so within about 12-14 hours we’re playing two of probably the best five or six teams on our schedule. We’re going to have to play well, but I just want to see us go compete at a high level. If we do that, we’ll live with it.”
WKU Volleyball enters the weekend ranked No. 24 in the nation after a 4-0 start to the season. The Lady Toppers boast a well-rounded squad with every active player already seeing action in at least two matches.
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.
Press Release courtesy of WKU Athletics.
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