Saturday’s five-set win over the Sam Houston Bearkats secured WKU Volleyball’s 100th straight regular-season conference play win.
The win moved Head Coach Travis Hudson’s team into third all-time in D1 history for most consecutive regular season conference wins. Under his leadership, 73 wins came by sweep, just eight required five sets and 19 were four-set decisions
In six full years of regular-season conference games, WKU Volleyball has lost just 34 sets.
“It’s really remarkable, 100 straight conference games is unthinkable,” Hudson said. “Really proud of what our program has done.”
The Hilltoppers’ last regular-season CUSA loss came in October 2018 against North Texas. WKU finished the 2018 regular season on a six-match win streak, sparking the historic run, while only losing two conference tournament games.
WKU has won five of the six conference tournaments during the win streak.
Hudson has been at the forefront of the Hilltoppers’ success, leading them to a program-best Sweet 16 appearance in the warped 2020 season. In the 2020 season, the Hilltoppers lost just one game, which came during the postseason to the Kentucky Wildcats, who were ranked second in the nation at the time.
“They haven’t all been 3-0 sweeps. Some of them have been matches you have to fight to get through,” Hudson said. “When you hit big milestones like that, they will never be easy to get over those last steps.”
Despite hitting the century mark, another milestone is on the horizon for Hudson as he is just three wins away from 800 in his career. The 2025-26 season is his 31st as head coach for the Hilltoppers. He began his career on the hill after graduating from WKU in 1994.
The 2024-25 season saw the Hilltoppers drop the most sets, with nine. WKU scraped by in multiple five-set thrillers, two against FIU and one against UTEP, before ending their season with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Many of the teams the Hilltoppers have faced over the last six years aren’t in CUSA anymore. WKU defeated teams such as UAB, Southern Miss, FAU, UTSA, Marshall, Charlotte, North Texas, Rice and Old Dominion.
The Hilltoppers will look to continue the streak when they return to the court against UTEP, who they’ve beaten seven times in the streak, Oct. 24th.
2018- Oct 26 6-0 Lost 5 sets
UTEP- 3-0
UTSA- 3-1
FIU- 3-2
Florida Atlantic- 3-1
UAB- 3-1
Louisiana Tech- 3-0
2019- 14-0 Lost 5 sets
Southern Miss- 3-0
Middle Tennessee- 3-1, 3-0
Marshall- 3-0
Florida Atlantic- 3-1
FIU- 3-0
UTSA- 3-0
UAB- 3-0, 3-0
Charlotte- 3-0
UTEP- 3-0
North Texas- 3-1
Rice- 3-2
Louisiana Tech- 3-0
2020- 12-0 Lost 1 set
Florida Atlantic- 3-0, 3-0
Charlotte- 3-0, 3-0
Marshall- 3-0, 3-1
FIU- 3-0, 3-0
Middle Tennessee- 3-0, 3-0
Old Dominion- 3-0, 3-0
2021- 12-0 Lost 3 sets
Marshall 3-0, 3-0
FIU 3-0, 3-0
MTSU 3-0, 3-0
FAU 3-0, 3-1
Old Dominion 3-0, 3-0
Charlotte 3-1, 3-1
2022- 14-0 Lost 4 sets
UAB- 3-0, 3-0
MTSU- 3-0, 3-0
FIU- 3-0, 3-0
Charlotte- 3-0, 3-0
UTSA- 3-0
North Texas- 3-1
UTEP- 3-1
Louisiana Tech- 3-0
Florida Atlantic- 3-0
Rice- 3-2
2023- 16-0 Lost 5 sets
UTEP- 3-1, 3-0
Liberty- 3-0, 3-2
Jacksonville State- 3-0, 3-0
New Mexico State- 3-0, 3-0
Sam Houston- 3-0, 3-0
Louisiana Tech- 3-0, 3-0
FIU- 3-1, 3-0
MTSU- 3-0, 3-1
2024- 18-0 Lost 9 sets
Jacksonville State- 3,0, 3-0
Kennesaw State- 3-0, 3-0
MTSU- 3-0, 3-1
FIU- 3-2, 3-2
Louisiana Tech- 3-0, 3-0
UTEP- 3-1, 3-2
NMSU- 3-0, 3-0
Sam Houston- 3-0, 3-0
Liberty- 3-0, 3-1
2025- 8-0 lost 3 sets
Jacksonville State- 3-0, 3-0
Missouri State- 3-1, 3-0
Louisiana Tech- 3-0,3-0
Sam Houston- 3-0, 3-2
