The WKU volleyball team (13-1) extended its winning streak to nine games during the course of the last week, including a 3-0 sweep on the road in Nashville and a historic weekend for the program during the Lady Toppers’ dominant run through the WKU Volleyball Invitational.

“I said back in week one that I just want us to continue to get better and I haven’t been caught up in wins and losses or winning tournaments,” head coach Travis Hudson said. “This team is far from a finished project. For me, I’d rather lose and get better than win and backtrack a bit. I think we’ve been winning and getting better though, which is the best of both worlds.”

WKU traveled to Curb Event Center in Nashville to meet Belmont (1-14) on Sept. 17.

The Lady Toppers defeated the Bruins in a clean 3-0 sweep for the sixth year in a row, extending the program’s lead in the all-time series against Belmont to 21-0.

Freshman Paige Briggs had 15 kills and a .519 hitting percentage against the Bruins, while junior transfer Logan Kael led the WKU defense with 17 digs. The Lady Toppers held Belmont to a .155 hitting percentage on the night on their way to a stifling win in straight sets.

Following their non-conference road win at Belmont, the Lady Toppers returned to the Hill in preparation of an impending seven-match homestand.

The long string of matches in Diddle Arena began on Friday and Saturday, as Northern Kentucky (7-5), Tulsa (7-6) and Samford (6-4) all traveled to Bowling Green to participate in the two-day WKU Volleyball Invitational event.

The Lady Toppers’ first matchup of the tournament proved to be their toughest, as the team dropped just their third opening frame of the season to NKU on Friday morning.

It took WKU five sets against the Norse to pull out the win, but the Lady Toppers ultimately won the fifth set 15-9 and claimed a tough victory. Junior transfer Nadia Dieudonne was one kill shy of a triple-double, as she totaled nine kills, 45 assists and 17 digs in a 3-2 win.

Dieudonne also helped guide the WKU offense to a .180 clip with 63 kills on 189 attacks.

WKU’s second game against Tulsa came on Friday night. The team’s performance was night and day compared to their first outing, as the Lady Toppers had control for most of the game.

WKU hit .364 with 41 kills against just nine errors on 88 swings. Tulsa was held to 24 kills, 13 errors and 76 attacks for a .145 rate. The match saw just three ties and two lead changes.

The win was WKU’s 12th of the 2019 season, but the victory was also a historic win for the Lady Toppers — it marked the 900th all-time win in program history.

“Anytime something like that happens, it just makes me flip back through the rolodex of all the great kids I’ve had the opportunity to coach and what they’ve meant to this program,” Hudson said. “This is truly a program that was built by the players, and players of the past continue to have their fingerprints all over the success we have today. It’s something we’re very proud of and certainly embrace the opportunity to celebrate.”