The Lady Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky University (WKU) defeated the Liberty University Women’s Volleyball team 3-0 during both final home games of the 2025 season Nov. 14-15.
During Friday’s match up, the Lady Flames lost in three sets to WKU. Liberty struck first during the first set with a kill by sophomore outside hitter Carly O’Brien. The start of the match established the tone for the first two sets as WKU and Liberty traded points, keeping the score tight until the Lady Hilltoppers pulled away to win the first set 25-20.
The Lady Flames showed strong efforts to stop the aggressive WKU offense but ultimately fell in the second set 25-22 and 25-17 in the third.
Despite this, the Lady Flames saw a dominant defensive effort from graduate student outside hitter Shyia Richardson who led Liberty’s defense with 12 digs on the night. Offensively, Liberty was led by sophomore outside hitter Paige Overcash with 10 kills, junior outside hitter Jenna Otts with eight kills and freshman middle blocker Laney Daniell with seven kills.
Saturday afternoon the Lady Flames faced the Lady Hilltoppers again on senior day, but WKU took the match 3-0. In the first set of the day, WKU quickly found its rhythm, creating a commanding lead and maintaining it to win the set 25-13.
Liberty battled back quickly in the second set as Overcash began to rack up kills for the Lady Flames, attacking hard from both the right side and the back row.
“(Overcash) had a great two matches,” Head Coach Jeremy White said. “She was kind of just our fire starter offensively everywhere, and today she had to on a heavier load attacking out of the back row. … I’m really proud of that.”
The Lady Flames were only 2 points away from claiming the second set when the Lady Hilltoppers came back to win the second set with a tight score of 26-24.
The third set saw a similar battle with a tight score and a few lead changes between the two teams; however, the Lady Hilltoppers triumphed 25-20, winning the match in the third set.
The Lady Flames offense on Saturday was led by Overcash with 13 kills and O’Brien with 12 kills.
“Today (O’Brien) came out and played with a different level of fire and leadership,” White said.
O’Brien also helped the defense with eight digs while freshman setter Alison Bierwagen led with 10 digs and sophomore defensive specialist Aubrey Acheson found nine.
“Everyone, honestly, especially in the second and third, really stepped up,” Overcash said. “I thought (Bierwagen) did a great job really seeing their blockers and making the adjustment kind of on the fly.”
After Saturday’s game, the Lady Flames honored Richardson for senior day, celebrating her career and contributions to the program. Richardson transferred to Liberty for the 2025 season and is completing a master’s degree in exercise science. She will leave Liberty having made an impact on the team’s defense with a regular-season total of 249 digs.
The Lady Flames will face Florida International University on Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. in Miami, Florida for the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Volleyball Championship. All championship games can be streamed on ESPN+.
“We’ll go out this next week, preparing them like we’ve done every other match and put our best foot forward as much as we can,” White said.
Wachowiak is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion.