Lauren Matthews struck for 23 kills and her third-straight 20-kill outing against Charlotte in Sunday’s regular-season finale as No. 17 Western Kentucky concluded its third-straight undefeated record in Conference USA play with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-15) road victory over the 49ers.

WKU improved to 24-1 on the season and 12-0 in C-USA with the four-set win over the 49ers.

“I thought we showed great toughness,” WKU head coach Travis Hudson said on the postgame show. “But again, you just have to be on this journey with us in that locker room every day because it’s an amount of toughness – it’s easy to be tough when you’re energized and rested and all those (things). I cannot express to you guys how much our tank is on empty. I just can’t express to you the struggle for our kids to literally show up and do this every day right now. They’re so very exhausted mentally, and to see them dig deep in that match is just tremendous for me to see and hopefully a good sign going into tournament time.”

Matthews and Katie Isenbarger each registered five blocks. Kayland Jackson closed the match with double-digit kills at 10 while Isenbarger added nine, Avri Davis tallied eight and Paige Briggs posted seven. The Hilltoppers outblocked the 49ers 11-6.

WKU’s 12-0 record in league play across the 2021 campaign marks the eighth undefeated conference season in program history and fourth since joining C-USA. WKU is now 120-6 in conference play in the regular season since joining Conference USA.

The Hilltoppers closed the regular season with a 73-8 record by sets, sweeping 20 of 25 matches this year. WKU is 66-2 across the 2021 calendar year and 79-4 across the last three seasons since the Hilltoppers’ six seniors have all been with the program.

Since joining Conference USA prior to the 2014 season, WKU volleyball has won seven of eight possible regular-season titles and six of seven possible tournament championships.

Charlotte became the first C-USA opponent to take a pair of sets off the Hilltoppers in the 2021 campaign by winning set one Friday and again Sunday.

A 4-0 run off Isenbarger’s serve gave the Tops a 23-19 lead in the second set, before the 49ers tallied their final point of the frame. A kill from Jackson and ace from Hood closed the set 25-20.

The Hilltoppers pushed out to a 9-6 lead in the third set, and a 5-0 run made it 14-8 in favor of the visitors. WKU used a 4-0 run to close the set and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Hilltoppers worked at a .333 clip in the set while striking for 18 kills with 10 from Matthews alone. Defensively, WKU held Charlotte to a .111 efficiency in the frame with Briggs racking up 10 of the Tops’ 23 digs.

WKU pushed out to a 15-6 advantage in the fourth and stretched that to a 20-8 margin, before WKU secured the set 25-15 for the four-set victory. The Tops operated at a .588 hitting clip in the set and tallied five combined blocks.

Nadia Dieudonne turned in her second straight match with 50 or more assists, finishing with 51 in the regular-season finale. She added six digs, three blocks and two kills while facilitating the Hilltoppers to a .328 hitting clip.

Hood finished with a career-high five aces to go along with 10 digs. Briggs turned in a season-best 22 digs, one shy of her career high, which was set in a five-set outing.

The C-USA Tournament will be hosted Nov. 19-21 by Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va.{&end}