WKU Match Notes (PDF)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - With just one match on the docket this week, WKU is headed to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to take on the 13-5 Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The match is slated for Thursday evening with a 6 p.m. CT first serve.
MATCH INFORMATION
Thursday, Oct. 6 | 6 p.m. CT | Hattiesburg, Miss.
| C-USA.TV
In three prior meetings between the programs, WKU owns a 2-1 advantage including the most recent meeting.
FIRST C-USA MATCHES ON THE ROAD
In WKU's first Conference USA road trip, the Lady Toppers visited Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee, sweeping both league foes. Amara Listenbee hit a career-best 10 kills against the Lady Techsters while Alyssa Cavanaugh registered a .789 hitting clip at Middle Tennesse.
HOME CONFERENCE WIN STREAK
Since joining C-USA, WKU has not lost a home match to a league opponent, improving to an 18-0 mark with its victory over Charlotte. The streak extends back to 2011 when counting both C-USA and Sun Belt opponents for 40-consecutive home conference wins. Of those victories, 32 have been straight-set sweeps while only two matches have last the full five sets.
LEADING THE LEAGUE
WKU's own Jessica Lucas leads the league in assists per set with 11.70 while Cavanaugh leads C-USA with 280 total kills and 303.0 points through 64 sets played. Sydney Engle leads C-USA with 0.45 aces per set and 29 total aces.
As a team, the Lady Toppers lead Conference USA in six categories including assists per set (13.80), hitting percentage (.309), kills per set (14.48), winning percentage (.889), team assists (883) and team kills (927).
FIRST SET DOMINANCE
With 18 matches of the 2016 season already in the books, the Lady Toppers have lost just once the first set of a match. WKU moved to an impressive mark of 17-1 in the opening frame following the first two weeks of conference play.
CONFERENCE USA ACCOLADES
Through six weeks of Conference USA weekly awards, WKU has seen six accolades presented to a Lady Topper already. In the opening week of honors, Cavanaugh was named the league's Offensive Player of the Week while Lucas earned a Setter of the Week nod. In the following five weeks, Lucas has been tabbed the C-USA Setter of the Week four more times to up her career number to 10 weekly honors. Lucas is the first student-athlete in C-USA volleyball history to earn five weekly awards of any sort during the first six weeks of a season in conference history.
1,000 CAREER KILLS
In WKU's five-set victory at Pitt, junior outside hitter Cavanaugh registered her 1,000th career kill. Entering the match, Cavanaugh needed 17 kills to achieve the feat, and she delivered, registering her 17th and 18th kills in the decisive fifth set.
CONFERENCE OPENING WEEKEND
WKU opened 2016 Conference USA play with a pair of wins over Florida Atlantic and Charlotte. WKU took down FAU in four sets while sweeping Charlotte. Cavanaugh registered a career-high kill outing against FAU with 24 while Rachel Anderson upped her personal-best block outing to nine. Taylor Dellinger produced a career-high 15 kills in WKU's victory over Charlotte while Lucas added her seventh double double of the season.
PANTHER CHALLENGE
WKU Volleyball claimed its second weekend tournament title at the Panther Challenge after defeating all three of its opponents. To open play, the Lady Toppers took down (RV) Pitt on its home court in five sets. Anderson registered a career-high 19 kills in the contest while Cavanaugh added 18. Lucas became the first Lady Topper since Tara Thomas in 2001 with a 20/20 double double, registering 43 assists and 22 digs. Georgia O'Connell recorded a season-best 23 digs in the outing.
On Saturday morning, the Lady Toppers returned to action, sweeping Robert Morris and limiting the Colonials to -.025 hitting percentage. Anderson posted 15 kills in the match.
Panther Challenge play concluded for WKU with a sweep of Lehigh on Saturday afternoon. Cavanaugh fired off 17 more kills in the Lady Topper victory.
A WEEKEND AT HOME
In the first contest of the Holiday Inn - University Plaza Hotel Invitational, WKU took down SIU in four sets. Four Lady Toppers produced double-digit kill efforts including Cavanaugh (16), Anderson (13), Engle (11) and Dellinger (10). Lucas and Engle each finished with double doubles in the outing.
WKU's second match of the day came against Cincinnati and resulted in a 3-0 sweep. The Lady Toppers hit at a .434 clip in the contest and saw four athletes hit .500 or better (Listenbee, Cavanaugh, Engle and Anderson).
Saturday night's finale turned out to be the weekend's championship match featuring the Lady Toppers and Michigan State. The contest took five sets and extra points to determine, but Michigan State returned to East Lansing with the weekend title. Cavanaugh registered 22 kills in the match while Anderson, Dellinger and Engle all added 10. Defensively, a trio of Lady Toppers recorded double-digit dig performances in O'Connell (14), Engle (12) and Lucas (10). Lucas and Engle each tallied their fifth and fourth double doubles of the season, respectively.
ANOTHER MIDWEEK TILT
In their first home match of the season, the Lady Toppers took down the previously undefeated (6-0) Belmont Bruins in straight sets. WKU remains perfect against Belmont, winning all 18 meetings in program history.
Cavanaugh and Anderson led the Red and White with eight kills each in the match. Lucas added 28 assists to accompany seven digs, five kills and a trio of block assists.
MARCIA E. HAMILTON CLASSIC
In the opening match of the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic, Cal Poly took the victory over the Lady Toppers, 3-1. Mary Martin filled the setter slot in the four-set match and tallied a career-high 48 assists.
Lucas returned for Saturday's double feature. First, in WKU's 3-0 sweep of the host Billikens, Lucas helped lead the Lady Toppers to a .526 hitting percentage for the first .500+ mark since the 2013 season. Saint Louis was limited to just a .068 hitting clip in the match. Lucas registered her third double-double of the season in the contest.
In the finale from St. Louis, the Lady Toppers defeated a strong Arkansas State team in four sets. With Lucas recording 53 assists, three Lady Toppers finished with double-digit kills. The WKU side finished with 12 blocks in the contest including a most-recent career-high seven from Anderson.
Arkansas State marks the third opponent that WKU has beat during the 2016 campaign that earned a spot in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
MID-WEEK MATCHUP
In the 41st meeting in program history between the WKU Lady Toppers and the Lady Governors of Austin Peay, WKU came away with the 3-0 victory from the Winfield Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee. A trio of Lady Toppers registered double-digit kills in the outing led by Cavanaugh's 14. Engle recorded a .529 hitting percentage on the contest to lead WKU.
AVCA WEEK 1 POLL
The Lady Toppers earned a ranking of No. 19 in the Aug. 29 poll for their highest mark since week one of the 2013 season.
The Red and White picked up 387 total points and remained the only Conference USA team in the poll or receiving votes.
Michigan State, a 2015 NCAA Tournament team and 2016 opponent, was also found in the poll at No. 28, receiving 104 points.
OPENING WEEKEND
WKU kicked off the opening weekend of the 2016 season at the Bobcat Invitational in Athens, Ohio. The Lady Toppers went 3-0 on the weekend to return home as the Bobcat Invitational Champions.
Travis Hudson's crew opened the season against Ohio on the Bobcats' home court. The Red and White took down the 2015 NCAA Tournament team in four sets with a near triple-double performance from Lucas and a 20-kill outing by Cavanaugh.
Villanova, another 2015 NCAA Tournament squad, was the Lady Topper's second win of the weekend, and a sweep. WKU saw double-doubles from Lucas and Engle in the contest and had three hitters register double-digit kills.
A win over the FGCU Eagles closed the weekend for the Lady Toppers. The four-set victory saw Cavanaugh tally a career-high 23 kills on 39 attempts for a .538 hitting percentage. Anderson contributed a then career-high 15 kills while Listenbee recorded seven total blocks.
OVERVIEW
A squad of just 12 players this season, Coach Hudson and the Lady Toppers have a target on their backs as the two-time defending Conference USA regular-season and tournament champions in their first two seasons in the league. The WKU squad is coming off arguably their best season yet, posting a 2015 record of 32-4 and a C-USA reading of 15-1. Nine Lady Toppers are returning from last season's unit that advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
UPCOMING MILESTONES
Several milestones are on the horizon for the 2016 season. In his 22nd season at his alma mater, head coach Hudson owns a career record of 545-198, putting him within reach of achieving the 550-win mark during the upcoming campaign. Hudson also owns a combined 249-61 record in Sun Belt and Conference USA play, putting 250 within reach. Additionally, the Lady Toppers have registered a total of 347 victories in the E.A. Diddle Arena putting the 350 milestone within reach with six home contests remaining on the 2016 slate.
SCHEDULE OUTLOOK
After two years in Conference USA, WKU has proven itself as the team to beat after hoisting a pair of league regular season and tournament trophies. The Lady Toppers are coming off of the program's ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and have no intentions of slowing down with one of their toughest schedules yet to come in 2016.
During the 2015 season, 21 of WKU's 2016 opponents posted a winning record and 13 of those teams went on to win 20 or more games during the year. Additionally, 14 of the Lady Topper's 2016 challengers closed the previous season with a top-100 RPI with Arkansas State at the top of the list coming in at No. 20.
PRESEASON C-USA POLL
With a pair of Conference USA championships in as many seasons in the league, the Lady Toppers have been voted the C-USA favorite prior to the 2016 campaign. WKU was picked to three-peat by all 13 league coaches. Rice, the host of the 2016 C-USA Tournament, was predicted to finish third in the poll with UTSA slated for second place.
Junior setter Lucas, an AVCA All-American performer a year ago, was also named the league's preseason player of the year while fellow All-American Cavanaugh joined Lucas on the 12-member preseason All-Conference team.
AVCA PRESEASON RANKING
For just the second time in program history, the Lady Toppers will enter the season ranked in the AVCA preseason poll. Hudson and company closed the 2015 rankings at No. 22 and will pick up in the same spot for the 2016 campaign. WKU was the lone C-USA school to receive votes in the opening poll of the 2016 season.
The first AVCA preseason poll appearance came prior to the start of the 2013 campaign when the Lady Toppers earned the No. 21 spot.
WKU received votes for all 16 weeks of last season's AVCA polls and appeared in the top-25 national rankings on 11 occasions. The final 2015 ranking of No. 22 was just the second time in program history that the Lady Toppers earned a spot in the final poll.
