The nationally-ranked WKU volleyball team is heading to a familiar location for its first-round NCAA tournament match.
The #24 Lady Toppers take on Iowa State Friday in Champaign, Illinois—the fourth time since 2008 that WKU has played an NCAA tournament contest in that town. WKU is 30-5 on the season and won the Conference USA tournament last weekend.
WKU head coach Travis Hudson says Friday’s matchup with Iowa State comes at an extremely exciting—and stressful—time of year for his players, given that finals week begins next Monday at WKU.
“They’re really stressed with academics and everything else that’s going on late in the semester. But I think it’s really important that they take the time to look around and enjoy this experience. It’s something that a lot of college volleyball players never get to experience.”
WKU is one of three Kentucky teams in the NCAA volleyball tournament, along with U.K. and Murray State. Hudson says the quality and popularity of women’s volleyball in Kentucky has recently surged thanks to the increasing number of high school programs in the state.
“I’ve been here 20 years now, and when I started there was no local volleyball in the high schools. As time has passed, they started the programs and it was kind of an unknown. But it’s grown to the point where there is really high quality volleyball going on in high schools around here, and even at the youth sports level.”
If the Lady Toppers beat Iowa State Friday afternoon, they’ll take on the winner of the Murray State-Illinois match in the tournament’s second round. Friday’s match begins at 4:30 p.m.
