Tops deal 3-1 loss to Sam Houston

Western Kentucky dealt a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-10) loss to Sam Houston on Thursday night at Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville, Texas. The win marks the 21st of the season for the Hilltoppers and their 16th consecutive in the column. After a slow start, WKU (21-6 overall, 15-0 Conference USA) dominated at the net and from the service line, finishing with 16 total blocks and nine service aces, limiting Sam Houston (17-11, 8-7 CUSA) to a mere .039 hitting clip. Izzy Van De Wiele led defensive efforts, stuffing 11 blocks, marking a new career high. Kaira Knox led WKU with 16 kills, marking her third consecutive match leading the team in the category. “Izzy, I’ve seen her have a lot of dominant matches as a blocker, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that out of her,” WKU coach Travis Hudson said in a news release. “She just completely took them out of what they were doing in that third set. They even spun their lineup to get different matchups in the fourth.

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