WKU Volleyball: 2017 Season Preview

Those who know me know I will go to war for any of the WKU athletics’ programs. However, those who know me also know there’s one program…

Those who know me know I will go to war for any of the WKU athletics’ programs. However, those who know me also know there’s one program above all other that I have a special place in my heart for — and that’s Travis Hudson’s volleyball program.

The sport itself has a special place in my heart — my dad coached the sport at the high school level for years and I was around it so much as a youth. I kept score at the table and even worked the lines as a late elementary and early middle schooler.

Once I got to WKU as a student, volleyball was a must-attend event for me. Unless I was out of town for a long weekend or had a night class (which I don’t think ever was the case on a volleyball night), I never missed a home game.

And my priority in watching WKU volleyball was before I realized how dominant a program they were.

The Lady Tops have not not won a conference tournament since 2013, the program’s final year in the Sun Belt. Since joining Conference USA, the Lady Tops have yet to relinquish the championship.

And, unfortunately for the rest of the conference, it doesn’t appear as if that trend is set to end anytime soon. The Lady Tops lost just two seniors from last year to this year in Georgia O’Connell and Kaelin Grimes, both of which were defensive specialists.

Returning are two of the premier players in the conference, if not the nation. Setter Jessica Lucas set a CUSA record last year by garnering seven Setter of the Week awards in the conference, logged 13 double-doubles (double-digit sets and kills) and enters the season sixth on WKU’s career assist list with 4,015 after three seasons.

Also returning is all-world outside hitter Alyssa Cavanaugh, who was named the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year at the league media day. Last year, the Louisville native took home the regular season Player of the Year and logged a career-best 516 kills, logging 4.41 kills per set and a .343 hitting percentage.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when talking about WKU’s dominance. The Lady Tops won 18 three-set matches in the regular season (that’s 18 straight-set wins in a 30-win victory). They also return Rachel Anderson, who logged 406 kills (which would have been a team-best if not for Cavanaugh) who also added 102 blocks to her stat line and Sydney Engle, who notched 324 digs and 105 blocks on the season. Again, that’s just naming a few and starting at the very beginning.

If there’s one question mark heading into the season, it’s who will replace O’Connell/Grimes as the libero on the hardwood, and even that isn’t much of a question mark as it appears it’s now the role of Emma Kowalkowski.

Long story short, it should be another year of dominance for the Lady Tops, and hopefully this is the year they get over the NCAA tournament hump and advance to the second round, something they haven’t done in…well, if I’m not mistaken, ever.

The season begins on Friday as the Lady Tops compete in the Miami (OH) tournament with Southern Illinois, Miami (OH) and Northern Arizona before playing in the Louisville Tournament and matching up against Louisville, Illinois and Kent State.

The full schedule can be seen here.

What are your expectations for WKU volleyball this year? Will they four-peat as CUSA champs or will someone bring their reign to an end? Will they finally not only draw a solid matchup in the tournament but make it past the first weekend of the season? Let us know in a comment below, via twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.