West Pennyroyal News

Matthews Named C-USA Player Of The Year In Back-To-Back Campaigns; Six Hilltoppers Earn Season Recognition

WKU Volleyball saw six different Hilltoppers honored on Thursday as Conference USA announced its All-Conference teams, All-Freshman Team and superlative awards.

Lauren Matthews becomes just the third player in league history to earn the newly renamed, Alyssa Cavanugh Player of the Year Award, earning . Head coach Travis Hudson was tabbed the C-USA Coach of the Year. Matthews, Paige Briggs and Callie Bauer all collected First Team All-Conference recognition. Katie Isenbarger landed on the Second Team All-Conference Team for the third time of her career, while Bauer and Abby Schaefer earned All-Freshman Team honors. 

WKU C-USA AWARD BREAKDOWN

Matthews – Alyssa Cavanaugh Player of the Year, 1st Team All-Conference

Hudson – Coach of the Year

Bauer – Freshman of the Year, 1st Team All-Conference, All-Freshman Team

Briggs – 1st Team All-Conference

Isenbarger – 2nd Team All-Conference

Schaefer – All-Freshman Team

The nation's hitting percentage leader last season, Matthews has worked at a .400 efficiency this season while striking for 389 kills and 107 total blocks this season for averages of 4.14 and 1.14 per set, respectively. The Indianapolis, Ind., native started every set for the Hilltoppers in the middle this season. Named the conference's Preseason Player of the Year, she collected two C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors as well as two Defensive Player of the Week honors. Matthews is now the leading blocker with 524 blocks throughout her career on The Hill, as well as ranking third in total kills (1,804) in the Red and White.

A redshirt-freshman setter in her first true season starting for the Tops, Bauer has now earned her first C-USA Freshman of the Year, First Team All-Conference, and Conference Freshman Team honors after facilitating the third-best offense in the country to a .317 hitting percentage. The six-rotation setter started all 94 sets this season and averaged 10.99 assists per set, which leads C-USA and ranks sixteenth in NCAA Volleyball. Bauer has racked up 1,033 assists, despite the Hilltoppers sweeping 18 of 28 matches this season. She's added 1.84 digs per set, 50 blocks, 78 kills, and 21 aces this season. Bauer earned three Setter of the Week honors this season, including a Co-Freshman of the Week nod in the final week of the regular season.

Collecting her fourth-straight honor with her four years of eligibility, Briggs is hitting .335 on the year with 354 kills (3.77 per set) and 225 digs (2.39 per set). She added 47 blocks and 34 aces as well. Across 28 matches, Briggs tallied four double-doubles. A primary passer for the Hilltoppers, the Ortonville, Mich., native recorded just 20 receive errors in 452 attempts for a 95.6 reception rate this season. The six-rotation outsider hitter was awarded the Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week twice this season and racked up 20 double-digit kill outings along with eight double-digit dig efforts this season.

Isenbarger was named Second Team All-Conference for the fourth-consecutive season with Thursday's awards. She's appeared in all 94 sets this season while operating at a .338 hitting percentage and averaging 1.14 blocks per set. Isenbarger, a native of Zionsville, Ind., racked up 135 kills this season with 1.45 kills per set to go along with 106 total blocks. From the service line, the senior middle hitter has struck for 18 aces and recorded 57 digs. She's tallied nine matches with a hitting clip of .300 or better entering the postseason, including a perfect .700 hitting clip with no errors against FAU in November.

Earlier this week, Bauer, Isenbarger and Briggs were all named to Conference USA's 11-player All-Academic Team. Bauer, a redshirt-freshman earned her first nod while studying marketing, Isenbarger, a graduate student earning her MBA in recreation and sport administration, collected her second. Briggs, a senior majoring in visual studies, has earned the recognition three times in her career.

Original source can be found here.