WKU Volleyball Picked as C-USA Runners-Up
The Conference USA volleyball coaches let their voices be heard earlier today, as the conference released their preseason rankings and all conference team earlier today.
After winning three Sun Belt regular season titles in a row, Travis Hudson’s Lady Toppers were picked to finish second in their first season of competition in their new home, behind only the reigning C-USA champion UTSA, who finished last year with a 24-8 overall record and 13-1 conference record. The Roadrunners also will return 10 letterwinners and six starters from last year.
While WKU’s 2014 squad certainly will be missing key components – Ashley Potts, Melanie Stutsman and Paige Wessel for starters – there is still a lot of remaining talent, which was reflected on the all-conference team. Of the 12 names, three of them are Lady Toppers; Heather Boyan, Haley Bodway, and Noelle Langenkamp, who was also selected as Conference USA’s Preseason Player of the Year. How freaking awesome is that?
Langenkamp will look to improve on an impressive sophomore season, as she finished 15th in the nation in hitting percentage (.411) as well as 308 kills and 97 blocks. She also averaged 2.96 kills per set in 2013, and is a two-time All Sun Belt member. Boyan and Bodway aren’t ones to mess around with either, as the former also finished top 20 in the country in hitting percentage last year (18th – .407) as well as a team-leading 99 blocks and the latter played in all 33 WKU matches a year ago on her way to killing 311 balls and averaged 3.21 kills per conference set.
The complete 2014 C-USA Volleyball Preseason Poll can be seen below:
1. UTSA
2. WKU
3. Rice
4. North Texas
5. Southern Miss (tie)
5. UAB (tie)
7. Middle Tennessee
8. Marshall
9. FIU
10. UTEP
11. Florida Atlantic
12. Charlotte
13. Louisiana Tech
WKU will begin their 2014 campaign on August 29th at the UNLV Invitational, playing UC Riverside and the host Rebels in their first day of play for the year. Conference matches begin September 26th, when the Ladies will head to Louisiana Tech.