WKU Volleyball’s Jessica Lucas and Darby Music were tabbed as Conference USA’s Setter of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively, following the Lady Toppers’ pair of weekend sweeps on the road. Lucas has now earned six weekly honors this season and a Conference USA record 18 during her career on The Hill. Music’s accolade is the first of her debut campaign.
Over the weekend, No. 25 WKU Volleyball traveled to Houston, Texas, to take on Rice from the Tudor Fieldhouse before clinching at least a share of the Conference USA regular season championship on Middle Tennessee’s home court on Sunday. The Red and White swept both matches to extend their win streak to 23 dating back to the second week of the 2017 season. WKU has now also claimed each of its last 38 meetings with C-USA foes – a streak that extends back to 2015.
Friday night, Lucas distributed 39 assists to average 13.0 helpers per set. The Seymour, Ind., native also posted 13 digs on the night for her seventh double-double showing of her senior campaign. Lucas also added five kills, three block assists and two service aces on the night. On Sunday, Lucas went for round two, notching 27 assists, seven digs, four kills, two service aces and another block. In total, Lucas contributed 11.00 assists per set, 3.33 digs per set, 2.50 points per set, 1.50 kills per set, 0.67 aces per set and 0.67 blocks per set from her facilitator position over the weekend. Lucas was perfect from behind the service line with four aces, zero errors and 36 serves for the 1.000% rating.
Lucas has racked up six Setter of the Week honors this season after setting the league’s single season record last year with seven. During her sophomore campaign, she collected three weekly honors after earning a pair her freshman season. With 18 C-USA honors, Lucas surpassed Tulsa’s Tyler Henderson who owned 17 Offensive Player of the Week recognitions from 2009-12.
In six sets of action over the weekend, Music tied for the team high with 20 digs – including a new career-high 15 Friday night at Rice. The Lexington, Ky., native also added an ace, a 1.000 service percentage and a perfect 1.000 serve-receive rating. The freshman put up identical perfect marks again on Sunday at Middle Tennessee with 11 serve receptions and three serves put into play without error. Music notched an average of 3.33 digs per set and added a couple of assists on the weekend as well.
The Lady Toppers have now collected weekly honors each of the past 10 weeks of distribution. After not seeing a student-athlete honored following the first week of play, WKU has not missed a week since, collecting 16 individual honors. Lucas’ six laurels this year leads the conference.
Head coach Travis Hudson and the Lady Toppers now sit at 27-2 overall on the year and sport a 13-0 mark in Conference USA action. With just Thursday’s contest at North Texas remaining, WKU has locked up at least a share of its fourth-straight Conference USA regular season title already. Including its Sun Belt Conference days, the Red and White have claimed seven-straight regular season titles (2011-17), matching the program’s stretch of seven titles that was also achieved from 2000-06.
How to Follow the Lady Toppers: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU.
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Jessica Leifheit
Assistant Director
WKU Athletic Communications/Media Relations
