Each half, each match, each quarter, each period, each game, there are moments.

And for all the moments, there are athletes behind them.

Orlando Mendez-Valdez

Speaking at Monday’s post-season men’s basketball banquet, Western athletics director Wood Selig said that during the Toppers’ NCAA tournament second round game against Gonzaga, he received a text message from a colleague – it contained just six letters: OMG, OMV.

It’s the kind of reaction that the senior has demanded with the season he had.

After averaging 5.7 points per game as a junior, the San Antonio, Texas native exploded this season to average 14.2 points per game and earn Sun Belt Conference player of the year honors along with being named first team all-Sun Belt.

Mendez-Valdez also captured the attention of the nation during the NCAA tournament, averaging 18 points per game in the two NCAA contests, including scoring 25-points, going 7-for-10 from three point range.

Mendez-Valdez was also named honorable mention all-American by the Associated Press. It’s the second straight season the Toppers have had a player tabbed as an all-American.

Football’s senior class

Western’s board of regents voted to move to the Football Bowl Subdivision, and for the seniors, post-season play and championships were no longer an option in their career.

“This group has sacrificed more than anybody,” coach David Elson said. “As exciting as the transition is and as much pride as you take for being a part of it, there’s a pretty large element of sacrifice there. The way they’ve handled everything speaks a lot to their upbringing and their families.”

The senior class endured an eight-game losing streak the final eight weeks of its season, including a 21-10 loss to Middle Tennessee State on senior day on Nov. 15.

Senior offensive lineman Dan Cline was considered one of the leaders of the senior class and regularly spoke of the senior’s never-give-up attitude.

“We have a tremendous attitude, and that is a credit to this group of seniors and this team, which is full of great character,” Cline said following a 24-20 loss to Florida Atlantic on Oct. 18. “We are not going to get down about it, and I can promise you, we are not going to give up on this season.”

Volleyball team

They dubbed themselves the “sixth-seed shockers,” beating Denver, Middle Tennessee State and New Orleans in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.

“Those kids were focused,” coach Travis Hudson said. “They were determined. They were poised, which I think is a big thing come tournament time. This had to do with 12 kids being led by three great seniors.”

After battling injuries throughout the regular season and losing five matches during the conference schedule, Western looked like a different team in the Sun Belt tournament. The Lady Toppers hit .351 the entire tournament, and didn’t allow more than 21 points in a game.

We were determined,” junior outside hitter Brittany Bowen said following the tournament. “And I think that’s all it took, and we had a lot of heart and pride in our program. We just wanted to show all of the other teams that we weren’t going to lose until we got to the (NCAA tournament) and that we weren’t the sixth seed. And we proved that.”

Matt Rice

Sophomore catcher Matt Rice wasn’t on the preseason all-Sun Belt Conference team, but not many people were probably looking for him anyway.

Rice started 26 of Western’s 60 games last season, compiling 34 hits in 101 at-bats.

Though most of the preseason focus was on all-American senior right fielder Chad Cregar, who led the team in batting average, hits, home runs and runs batted in last year, Rice stole the spotlight in 2009.

He had a 31-game hitting streak, beginning in the second game of a March 1 double-header and ending on April 18.

“I knew I was in the 30s,” Rice said after the streak ended. “I had no idea what the record was, and I had no idea what WKU’s record was. I didn’t want to try to put pressure on myself.”

Rice set a program record with the hit streak and tied the Sun Belt single-season record, falling three games short of the overall conference record.

Valerie Brown

Valerie Brown ended her career in a Western uniform at the NCAA Indoor National Championships last March, taking all-American honors in a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash.

Brown set a school-record 52.74-second run in the event’s preliminaries, then followed with a 52.76-second dash in the finals.

“I felt humbled to be around so much talent,” Brown said of her experience at the indoor championships. “I went out and did what I was supposed to do.”

In all, the veteran sprinter qualified for three events at the championships and chose to compete in the 400 meters and women’s 4×400 relay team. The long relay squad finished 11th in the nation with Brown at the anchor spot, leaving Western 30th overall at the meet.

Behind only junior Janet Jesang, Brown became the second women’s indoor all-American in school history.

“She’s the best female athlete on campus,” track and field coach Erik Jenkins said.

OMV’s performance vs. Gonzaga

It looked effortless, something Mendez-Valdez had been doing all his life. Although for most of it, he has.

But in this, the event was draining threes over nationally-ranked competition.

But Mendez-Valdez’s biggest plays came in the final two minutes of the game, with the Toppers trailing by nine, 81-72.

After hitting a reverse-pivot, fall-away three to close the gap, Mendez-Valdez dove on the floor for a loose ball, feeding it ahead to sophomore forward Steffphon Pettigrew for a dunk that brought the team within two points before eventually tying the game, but losing it on a last-second runner by Gonzaga’s Demetri Goodson.

Mendez-Valdez finished the game tying his career-high with a game-high 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 7-for-10 from three-point range.

Devastating loss to North Texas

At the time, coach David Elson called it “Murphy’s law.”

With a homecoming crowd looking on, a game that went back and fourth the entire time ended in devastating fashion for Western.

On third-and-goal on the one yard line, with the Toppers down 45-40, senior quarterback David Wolke threw an interception that was run back for a touchdown by North Texas as time ran out.

Western lost 51-40.

“It’s just not working right now. That’s what’s frustrating. Some of these things that happen are just unbelievable. It’s ironic things. You never know what to expect. That’s why you play,” Elson said after the game.

Wolke’s interception in the final seconds was one of three turnovers in the game. Western also missed two extra points.

Western’s upset of Louisville

The Sommet Center in Nashville has played host to many things, professional and collegiate sporting events along with concerts and other various events.

On November 30, 2008, it played host to one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season when unranked and unheralded Western defeated then-No.3-ranked Louisville 68-54.

From the beginning of the contest, Western kept pace and at most times, overpowered the Cardinals, defending their strengths instead of preying on their weaknesses.

The Toppers led for most of the second half, never trailing in the final 10 minutes and bringing home the first marquee victory of the coach Ken McDonald era.

It was the Toppers’ first victory over a top-five team in program history.

The game featured a few highlights, but none probably bigger than junior forward Jeremy Evans’ block of center Samardo Samuels dunk attempt in the second half. A play that had Samuels laying on the hardwood for a number of minutes.

The Toppers were led by junior guard A.J. Slaughter’s career-high 25 points.

Women’s basketball team doesn’t advance

After the departure of eventual-WNBA player forward Crystal Kelly, and the injury to senior forward Dominique Duck, things changed for the Lady Toppers.

Most notably, they were eliminated in the first-round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in school history.

They didn’t earn a bye in the first round, forcing them to play Louisiana-Monroe at Diddle Arena.

The 10th-seeded Warhawks upset the seventh-seeded Lady Toppers 61-52. Junior guard Kenzie Rich led the Lady Toppers with 18 points, sophomore forward Arnika Brown finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but the defeat left coach Mary Taylor-Cowles not quite knowing what to do next.

“I don’t know how to feel,” Cowles said following the game. “I don’t know how to think. I don’t know how to act. It’s extremely new to me. So, as we go forward, whether it’s tonight, whether it’s tomorrow, or whether it’s next week or in the month of April, when we’re allowed to get back in the gym, we’ll have to kind of have to come up with a game plan.”

Baseball team near-perfect at home

After Western’s first home loss of the season, to Belmont on March 3, pitching coach Matt Myers said he asked the team how badly they really wanted to win.

“I challenged them and told them that wasn’t representative of who we are,” Myers said. “I told them to go home and look in the mirror, and how bad do you want to come out and show how good you are?”

As the Toppers enter the final two weeks of the season, he has his answer.

The Toppers have compiled a 27-2 at Denes Field in 2009, including 14-1 in Sun Belt Conference play.

The home record is third-best in program history, and with a win over Louisville on Tuesday, Western can match the school record of 28 set in 1988.

After sweeping Arkansas Little-Rock last weekend, the Toppers have won nine consecutive home conference series, going 24-3 over that span.

“When other teams come in, they see how well we’re playing at home,” junior first baseman Jake Wells said. “There’s sort of an intimidation factor when they come to our place, which helps us a lot.”

Western’s only other home loss came to Florida Atlantic on April 24.

“We’ve tried to put a lot of emphasis on defending our home field and how much that means to our program,” coach Chris Finwood said. “People want to see you win at home.”