Follow KSU Volleyball - X | Instagram
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Kennesaw State Volleyball faced its first road challenge of the year in conference play, as the Owls fell to preseason Conference USA favorite Western Kentucky 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-17) on Friday night from E.A. Diddle Arena.
STAT OF THE GAME: Western Kentucky hit over .400 (.408) for the game, while KSU finished the night with a .218 hitting percentage.
THE RUNDOWN – WKU led most of the first set, and after the Owls closed within 14-12, the Hilltoppers scored five of the next six to open up a seven-point lead on the way to a 1-0 lead. The Owls kept it a one-point game through the first 13 points in the second set, but a 6-1 spurt would push WKU out to a 13-7 lead as they would go up 2-0. Set three was more of the same as the Owls kept it close early in the set, but trailing 12-8, gave up a 5-1 spurt to fall behind seven and would eventually fall 25-17 to close out the night.
POSTGAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"Despite the result, we had nice mental engagement and effort from our team tonight. I thought we showed up in a really good headspace and played each point independently of the last, things that we've been working on.
WKU is just so dang consistent with their touches and game. It's just steady, consistent, constant, confident pressure and very few bad mistakes or low level plays. It's why they've dominated this league for so many years. We played the wow points and one-off plays as well as them, but will need to eliminate a few mistakes each set and even more importantly find a way to pressure them with our serve, block and defense if we want tomorrow to go any differently.
Honestly, I'm proud of our team. People on the outside might think I'm crazy saying that with our record and that result. But this is just where our team is at right now. We're young as all get out. We had another starter go down tonight, so we now have five players out of 16 injured. We're going over some monster bumps in the road right now in what was already going to be an incredibly challenging year. But we're listening, we're making changes, leaders have emerged, we're giving great effort, and we're growing. It's ALL about the process right now for us, and I'm proud we're staying the course."
NOTES
-
Manu Johnsen led KSU with 14 kills, while
Caroline Chastang was next with seven.
-Kaley Walz posted 15 assists, with
Kourtney Brown adding 13.
-
Leah Freeman paced KSU with 14 digs.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will play a second game against the Hilltoppers on Saturday in a 2 p.m. (ET) contest.
