WKU Volleyball releases 2023 slate

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - WKU Volleyball is set to face another tough test this fall as the team has announced its complete 2023 schedule on Wednesday.

Additionally, flexible season ticket packages are on sale to catch the Hilltoppers in action at all 15 regular season home matches.

In total, the schedule includes 30 regular season matches before the Conference USA Tournament in Lynchburg, Virginia.

“Excited about the challenges that lie ahead for our 2023 team” said head coach Travis Hudson. “Our non-conference schedule is filled with teams that have won at a high level and played in NCAA tournaments. It should be a stiff test for our group heading into conference play. "

Season tickets for the 2023 WKU Volleyball campaign are on sale now.

For $50 fans will receive 15 flexible tickets that can be used for any regular-season match featuring the Hilltoppers in Diddle Arena.

Seating will be general admission with full capacity.

The Hilltoppers will face six NCAA Tournament teams from last season in Marquette (Sweet Sixteen), Colgate (First Round), Penn State (Sweet Sixteen), James Madison (First Round), Arkansas (Second Round), and Ball State (First Round) with the Razorbacks and Cardinals visiting Diddle Arena.

WKU’s regular season slate features two Power Five opponents spanning the Big Ten and SEC.

Eleven of the 22 squads WKU will face in 2023 posted 20-win seasons in 2022 and 16 owned winning records over .500.

The Hilltoppers will kick off 2023 with an exhibition with Kentucky on Aug. 17 in Lexington, as they last saw the Wildcats in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2022.

Due to the renovations of Memorial Coliseum at UK, the Tops and Cats will match up in historic Rupp Arena.

In four non-conference tournaments to open the playing season, WKU will visit events hosted by Dayton on Opening Weekend and Penn State the next weekend.

In between those two tournaments, the Hilltoppers will host Belmont as its 2023 home opener on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

Weekends three and four will keep the Tops at home for the Holiday Inn – University Plaza Hotel Invitational and WKU Volleyball Invitational.

Across those events, Troy, College of Charleston, Arkansas, Ball State, Western Michigan, and East Tennessee will visit The Hill.

WKU will close midweek non-conference action in between both home tournaments with a trip to Austin Peay on Sept. 12.

In a new looking Conference USA, the league’s schedule is set for back-to-back matches at one location in a home and away series.

Conference play will open with homestand against UTEP Sept. 22 and 23, before a Tuesday-Wednesday road test at C-USA Tournament site, Liberty on Oct. 3 and 4.

The Tops return home the following weekend to host Jacksonville State (Oct. 7 and 8) and set for Las Cruces in mid-October for a two-match series with the Aggies of New Mexico State (Oct. 13 and 14).

Hudson and company will close out the month with playing host to new conference member, Sam Houston State (Oct. 20 and 21), while capping on a roadtrip to Ruston, La. to face the Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech on Oct. 27 and 28.

WKU’s final weekend at home will feature a Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4 match up with FIU inside Diddle Arena.

Regular season play will conclude for the Hilltoppers on the road, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10 and 11 in Murfreesboro to challenge local rival Middle Tennessee to close C-USA action.

A week later, Liberty will welcome the league’s top eight teams (by conference winning percentage) to Lynchburg, Va. for the single-elimination Conference USA Tournament from Nov. 17-19.