For the second season in a row, head coach Travis Hudson is dealing with two things all too familiar.

A winning record and an offensive player battling injury.

Last year, former Lady Topper Jenna Gideon saw limited time the last part of the season thanks to a back injury.

This season, it’s junior outside hitter Aquila Orr, and Hudson thinks it’s almost unbelievable.

“If you would have told me that we would be eleven and three, I’m not sure I would’ve believed you,” Hudson said. “And if you would have told me that Aquila would be injured the majority of that time and we would be eleven and three, I would have accused you of lying.”

Orr re-injured her abdomen last weekend during the match against Albany in the last of a three-match weekend at Michigan where Western went 1-2.

The sharp, shooting pain that comes along with the injury is felt with every hiccup, sneeze and cough, Orr said.

When Orr re-injured it during the Albany match she immediately started crying, but it wasn’t necessarily from the pain.

“As soon as I felt it, it wasn’t even so much the pain,” Orr said. “It was just realizing mentally that I had just done it again, and I just couldn’t help but to get emotional.”

While the Lady Toppers have been successful during Orr’s injury, it wouldn’t hurt to have her in the lineup during conference games.

The injury has proven to be a factor this season. Orr has a hitting percentage of .165, down from a team best .378 last season.

She has never had to deal with an injury before now, and she’s finding out just how draining it can be both mentally and physically, she said.

“The most frustrating thing is that it’s one of those injuries where you think you have it nicked, and then it can just come right back and bite you in the butt,” Orr said.

The doctor informed Orr that she probably shouldn’t expect to be back by this weekend’s Sun Belt conference opener against Middle Tennessee, and she had an ultrasound yesterday to make sure that there wasn’t any tearing.

The news came as a bit of a disappointment for Orr, but she believes that the Lady Toppers are just as capable without her.

“That was really hard,” Orr said. “Because you always want to be there for the big games, but I think they’ll be fine.”

The Lady Toppers know what Orr brings to the table, and they can’t deny that when she’s healthy she is an offensive force that has no problem finding kills, senior setter Julia Noe said.

“I think that everybody understands that we are better when she’s out there,” Hudson said. “But this is an experienced group and the kids that we are putting out there are doing their job.”

Reach Ryan Carey at sports@chherald.com.