Western Kentucky volleyball’s Paige Briggs and Nadia Dieudonne have been recognized by Conference USA for their weekend performances in helping the Lady Toppers to a 3-0 start. Briggs was tabbed the league’s Freshman of the Week while Dieudonne earned Setter of the Week recognition.

With the help of the pair of newcomers, the Lady Toppers won the Toledo Blue & Gold Tournament title over the weekend with wins over Loyola, Toledo and North Dakota State.

In her first match with WKU, Dieudonne delivered a double-double showing with 54 assists and 20 digs.

Playing in all 11 weekend sets, Dieudonne finished with 130 assists and 35 digs to average a double double in her first three matches of the season. The junior transfer averaged 11.82 assists per set to go along with 3.18 digs per set. The Toledo Blue & Gold Tournament MVP posted a .412 attack percentage of her own and facilitated the WKU offense to a collective .320 clip.

A true freshman, Briggs made an impact over the weekend. The Ortonville, Mich., native posted double-digit kills in all three weekend victories while recording two double-double performances.

An all-tournament team pick, Briggs delivered 44 kills, 34 digs, four aces, three assists and two blocks to go along with her .336 hitting clip from the outside. At the service line, Briggs was solid, notching a .920 service rate while owning a .963 serve-receive mark.

Briggs averaged 4.00 kills per set to go along with her 3.09 digs per set.

Lady Tops’ Bragado named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week

Western Kentucky senior defender Christina Bragado has been named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week as announced by the league office Monday after leading the Lady Toppers to a shutout victory over Middle Tennessee on Sunday.

Bragado’s weekly honor is the third of her career after previously being named Defensive Player of the Week twice during her 2017 sophomore campaign. Her three career weekly awards are tied for the second-most in program history alongside Amanda Buechel, trailing only the four won by former goalkeeper Allison Leone. WKU has also earned Defensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks, with Avery Jacobsen capturing the accolades last week.

WKU (2-1-1) bounced back from a double-overtime defeat at Samford on Friday to earn its first win in Murfreesboro since the 2011 season. Although Samford scored three goals, only one was scored during the run of play; through its first four matches, Bragado has helped to lead WKU to three shutouts and only a single goal not created from a set piece.

In the Lady Toppers’ two matches this weekend, the San Diego native played every minute while anchoring the formidable back line. On Sunday, tasked with going up against one of the top offenses in C-USA, Bragado helped the WKU defense shut down the Blue Raiders; despite 19 shots, only four were put on goal, and Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Peyton DePriest was held to a single shot that was off target. Middle Tennessee entered the match having scored at least four goals in each of its first three matches prior to the shutout.

Ex-WKU player Franklin helps Team Canada earn Olympic bid

Former Western Kentucky softball player Larissa Franklin has become the program’s first-ever Olympic qualifier. Franklin, a native of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, helped Team Canada secure a berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics over the weekend.

Franklin played for WKU during the 2015 campaign that saw the Hilltoppers clinch the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles. Franklin tied the program’s longest hitting streak at 15 games while posting the team’s second-best single-season batting average at .417. She notched 70 hits on the campaign while posting 22 multi-hit outings – the third most by a WKU player in a single season.

Team Canada locked up one of six team spots in the 2020 Olympics with Sunday’s 7-0 run-rule win over Brazil. Canada was the fifth qualified team for the Olympic softball competition, joining Japan (host team), USA (World Champion) Mexico (Americas Qualifier) and Italy (winner of the Europe/Africa Qualifier) in Tokyo 2020.