Now, grateful as ever, he is coaching 15-seed Western Kentucky in the NCAA volleyball tournament. A local volleyball star's leukemia diagnosis is raising awareness about the need for more bone marrow donors. One night later, 5,023 people came through the arena doors to watch the rematch between WKU and Louisville. Speaking of streaks, the Lady Toppers continued their unprecedented home conference winning streak, stretching it to 55-consecutive wins dating back to the 2011 season. Western Kentucky volleyball coach Travis Hudson (left) hugs Alyssa Cavanaugh as the bone marrow drive for her leukemia treatment is announced Nov. 3, 2018, at E.A. That streak would stretch to 38 matches before a setback at North Texas. Indexed with yellow tabs, it goes where he does. The following year, he and the Tops avoided disaster en route to Mobile, Alabama, for a match. If anyone comes to mind for us to write a letter to, he'll mail it.". Producer Mark Webster Jr. shares a quote from head coach Tyson Helton (20:51-21:48) before he brings in Kaden Gaylord to debate who should be WKU's new starting quarterback (21:49-27:43). In his first four seasons with Conference USA, Hudson and the Lady Toppers set the standard high, as 18 Lady Toppers garnered All-Conference awards while Alyssa Cavanaugh (2014) and Rachel Anderson (2015) were both named the league's Freshman of the Year. After leading WKU to a 15-1 league record, Hudson earned his first Conference USA Coach of the Year honor. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.– WKU Volleyball veteran head coach Travis Hudson has once again accepted an invitation to join one of USA Volleyball’s coaching staffs as Hudson will work with USA Volleyball’s Collegiate National Team in Anaheim this summer.USA Volleyball announced the roster and coaching staff on Monday. Hudson joins an elite group of leaders to hit the milestone and is just the 19th active DI volleyball coach to achieve the feat. A 1994 graduate of WKU, Hudson holds a bachelor's degree in business management with a marketing emphasis. In 2013, WKU volleyball had its first-ever Senior CLASS Award national finalist in Ashley Potts. She was 24. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville native and Western Kentucky University volleyball legend Alyssa Cavanaugh died Friday morning at age 24, according to WKU… S 5'9" Fr. Hudson hit the ceiling but crawled to the front, used his 6-foot-5 frame to splay over the deceased driver and steered the bus to safety with no players injured. “It is with profound sadness that we deal with the loss of Alyssa Cavanaugh,” WKU Volleyball head coach … Engle repeated as a C-USA All-Academic honoree in 2015 while Jessica Lucas earned a spot on the team in 2016. They open with Kennesaw State on Thursday, with that winner facing either Louisville or Samford. It was about falling short of standards that he had introduced a quarter century ago when, at age 24, he was hired as the youngest coach in Division I. Six seasons later, Hudson was Sun Belt Coach of the Year, the first of more than a dozen accolades for one of the most decorated fixtures in the sport. LISTEN: WKU Volleyball Coach Travis Hudson Shares His Thoughts On The Atmosphere Inside Diddle Arena Thursday Night | WKU Connection WKU Athletics/Steve Roberts After a 3-0 set sweep of Kennesaw State last night in the opening round of the NCAA tournament Western Kentucky Volleyball will look to advance to the sweet 16 with a victory tonight against the University of Louisville. Hilltopper Nation showed up by the masses to support the Lady Toppers inside Diddle Arena with record-setting crowds on back-to-back nights for the NCAA Tournament. A fitness buff, he eats right. While the Tops bowed out of the tournament, a statement was made that Diddle Arena was near the top of the list of volleyball atmospheres across the country. Along with that, Hudson's produced 31 AVCA All-Region selections and 20 AVCA All-Americans during his tenure, including four-time All-Americans Megan Argabright, Alyssa Cavanaugh and Jessica Lucas. 16 in the AVCA National Poll in 2013 and finished as No. The official Football Coach List for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers Football Coaches - Western Kentucky University Athletics Skip To Main Content Last year wasn't that way. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team Hudson and the Tops are one of just five programs in the nation to produce 20 or more consecutive 20-win seasons. Normal, IL University H.S. Tryouts are slated to take Lying on a table in a Bowling Green emergency room, Hudson fixed on the nurse's expression as he watched her attach sticky electrodes to his chest. In retrospect, maybe it should have been. Flipping on the monitor changed the calm of the room. But Hudson's disappointment wasn't about results. Despite an uphill battle to conquer, Coach Hudson led the squad to its 19th-straight 20-win season and secured the No. 2,207 talking about this. Head Volleyball Coach: Becca Acevedo: Assistant Volleyball Coach: Courtney Furlong: Graduate Assistant Coach : View Full Bio 1 Isabel Schaefbauer. The ESPN Daily delivers the biggest sports news and moments every weekday. "I blur out last year sometimes because it was so unlike the culture that Western Kentucky has," senior Emma Kowalkowski said. The Hilltoppers coach doesn't fancy himself much of a writer, but he began to scribble down some thoughts. WKU head volleyball coach Travis Hudson salutes fans after the Hilltoppers’ victory over Kennesaw State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Diddle Arena on December 5, 2019. In fact, he was just getting started. While in college in the early 1990’s, Hudson volunteered his time to the volleyball team. WKU Volleyball player Alyssa Cavanaugh died Friday morning at Norton Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Story and photo Courtesy of: WKU Athletics BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Volleyball legend Alyssa Cavanaugh passed away on Friday morning at Norton Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Fellow senior Sydney Engle joined Lucas as a C-USA All-Academic selection and later went on to be awarded the league's coveted Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship. 8 on Volleyball Magazine's list of top Division I women's head coaches as announced by the publication Thursday afternoon. The official 2018 Women's Volleyball Roster for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers Hudson is the 58th DI volleyball coach all-time to win 600 or more matches in their career and is one of just 18 to do it all with the same team. She was 24. One year after that bus ride, WKU is completing a different journey.  Follow @WKUVolleyball. ", "I'll never forget those words," he said. Entering his 26th season as head coach in the 2020-21 school year, he is the architect behind turning WKU Volleyball into a championship-caliber team and bringing national attention to the Lady Topper program. BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- WKU volleyball head coach Travis Hudson came in at No. Two starters left. The Lady Toppers would end up heading to Lexington, Ky., for the NCAA Tournament and sweep defensive-power Notre Dame. 1.7K likes. Hudson's notebook is much thicker now. Hudson cites six core values -- respect, trust, hard work, accountability, positivity and a team-before-me attitude -- behind WKU volleyball's culture, pillars that fell short last year. Get updated NCAA Women's Volleyball DI rankings from every source, including coaches and national polls. They repeated that feat in 2015 with a No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament for the second-consecutive season finishing with a 20-10 record. "Alyssa and the kids she played with broke down so many walls in our program because when you were on the court with Alyssa Cavanaugh, you believed you had a … The poll was conducted among nearly 40 NCAA Division I men's and women's head coaches. With a cumulative GPA of 3.514, the Lady Toppers have earned the Team Academic Award for the 18th time since 1999. Get updated NCAA Women's Volleyball DI rankings from every source, including coaches and national polls. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team I've been able to find myself again and remember what has made this a special ride. Hudson (Coach of the Year), Paige Briggs (Freshman of the Year) and Lauren Matthews (Player of the Year) each earned both the AVCA Region superlatives and Conference USA superlatives. For his career, Hudson holds a 642-215 (.749) mark, as his only head coaching job has been on The Hill. Word that the school's most decorated player, 2017 graduate Alyssa Cavanaugh, had been diagnosed with leukemia affected even those who never met her. In addition to his on-court successes, Hudson is fiercely proud of the achievements his players have produced in the classroom. Travis Hudson, coach of the WKU Volleyball Program, earned his bachelor’s degree at WKU in business management with a marketing emphasis while balancing two jobs. After securing back-to-back American Volleyball Coaches Association South Region Coach of the Year honors for the first time in his. Hudson is also the only coach in Conference USA history with 600 or more wins all at the DI level. FOJ would forever change the lives of people involved with WKU volleyball, as the group connected the team with Harlie Bryant in 2012. Matthews also added AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors and C-USA Tournament MVP status. For the seventh-consecutive season, the Lady Toppers found themselves ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll, spending two weeks ranked and the remainder of the season receiving votes. 781 Volleyball Coach jobs available on Indeed.com. Individually, Rachel Anderson earned All-American honors for the third time of her career and was named a Senior CLASS Award candidate. WKU head coach Travis Hudson argues a call during their 3-0 win over Louisiana Tech on Thursday, ... WKU volleyball announces C-USA schedule By the Daily News Nov 19, 2020 “It is with profound sadness that we deal with the loss of Alyssa Cavanaugh,” WKU Volleyball head coach … After graduating five seniors - including two four-time All-Americans - Hudson was faced with a tall task during the 2018 campaign. A graduate of nearby Edmonson County High School in Brownsville, Ky., Hudson captained both the varsity football and basketball teams, earning All-State honors in football. Hudson accepted and worked with the squad gearing up for the 2017 FIVB Volleyball Women’s U20 World Championship. Hudson is the cousin of former Hilltopper basketball great Bob Daniels, who lettered for WKU from 1954-57. For the 14th-consecutive season, WKU Volleyball has been recognized as a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award for its work in the classroom throughout the 2019-20 school year. The Louisville native was chosen as one of 10 volleyball players for the recognition based on criteria in classroom, competition, community service and character. The squad returned just two upperclassman front row players and only one that had seen significant court time. The senior ultimately won the fan vote and earned First Team All-American status from the prestigious organization. BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Alyssa Cavanaugh had finished up her volleyball career at Western Kentucky University, graduated, and was preparing for a professional career playing overseas. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team But the roots of this story predate his first entry. 15. Prior to assuming the head coaching duties for the Lady Toppers in 1995, he served as an assistant coach for two years with Mark Hardaway, who left The Hill to take the head coaching position at Evansville, and one campaign under Jeff Hulsmeyer, former head coach at Purdue. She held a graduate manager position with the Boilermakers for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Lady Toppers boast a 100-percent graduation rate in Hudson's tenure, with eight of his players earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors. His goal was to become the first person in his family to graduate college. "They usually don't make it to ICU because they die.". 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