Coach Travis Hudson might have forgotten what it is like to be unsuccessful.
After all, in his last seven seasons on the Hill no fall sport team has been more successful than his Lady Topper volleyball squad.
Since 2000, they have racked up a 193-46 record, that amounts to a .807 winning percentage, the best among all athletic teams at the school. The next closest team is men’s basketball at .723.
The Lady Toppers have also won at least a share of seven consecutive Sun Belt Conference East Division crowns and two Sun Belt tournament titles. That is more than any other team on the campus since the turn of the century.
They haven’t seen a season end with a losing record since a 9-22 slate in the 1997 season.
The success has come in all times of the season. Of the 19 regular season tournaments the Lady Toppers have played in since 2000, they have won 13.
Hudson defers a lot of the team’s success to his players.
“There is 100 better volleyball coaches in the country than me,” he said. “But the thing that I think is most important to our program, and the thing we’ve found in the last week or two is how much I absolutely care about these girls. They are like 12 daughters to me, and we hold hands and go to work together and it certainly has resulted in a good result most nights.”
All these accomplishments, and the team only averages 600 fans per home match.
Why is this? Could it be the lack of interest from the school, fans and administration? Possibly the lack of promotion by the athletic department?
I mean sure, you see the lawn signs posted around campus and maybe a brief announcement at the next football game.
But despite this team being the most consistent bunch of athletes to represent the school, the lack of attendance means a number of sports fans in the Bowling Green/Western Kentucky community don’t know about this team and the success it has.
That shouldn’t be the case for a team that has more NCAA tournament appearances (two) in this decade than the women’s basketball team (one), the team that really brought notoriety to Western.
The team is able to rack up individual accolades like kills.
There’s not enough team’s awards.
But just to name a few, junior middle hitter Megan Argabright has taken home Sun Belt freshman of the year and player of the year honors. Senior middle hitter Jenna Gideon and junior setter Julia Noe joined Argabright as all-Sun Belt selections at some point in their careers.
Collegiate Volleyball Update Magazine recently named Noe National player of the week on Oct. 3.
Whatever angle you look at it, Western volleyball is the school’s recent model of consistency in athletics.
The reason? It could be their innate ability to battle and their tenacity.
During the 2005 Sun Belt tournament championship match against Middle Tennessee State, the Lady Toppers battled back from a 2-1 deficit to win the title 3-2. During that season, they lost only one game in all 12 conference matches they played.
Domination. Consistency. Tenacity. Whatever noun you choose, Western volleyball is by far the team to watch on the Hill.
Reach David Harten at sports@chherald.com.
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