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. The official Football Coach List for the Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers Football Coaches - Western Kentucky University Athletics Skip To Main Content A four-time All-American during her career on The Hill from 2014-17, Cavanaugh is one of the most decorated players in WKU program history. Follow @TravisHudsonWKU Most recently, Sophia Cerino joined the ranks of Lady Toppers to earn the honor in 2018 and 2019. He wasn't sure what caused the shortness of breath and throbbing pain radiating from his left arm during a drive to the hardware store. It was a struggle to get through the day from a fatigue standpoint and regulating medications. In 2009, he received two opinions about a growth on his skin, both times dismissed as harmless. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville native and Western Kentucky University volleyball legend Alyssa Cavanaugh died Friday morning at age 24, according to WKU… She had even discussed with her former coach, Travis Hudson, all the wonderful things she would get to experience playing abroad. "My first two years, I loved being here. She ranks second in WKU volleyball history with 1,816 career kills and third all-time with 3.78 kills per set across her career. Additionally, the senior collected Conference USA's coveted Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship. "My thought was that my kids needed me there. 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. Follow @WKUVolleyball. "I loved that Travis had his players do that. 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. Engle repeated as a C-USA All-Academic honoree in 2015 while Jessica Lucas earned a spot on the team in 2016. In his first season, the Hilltoppers finished 7-26. 1.6K likes. 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 leading WKU to a 15-1 league record, Hudson earned his first Conference USA Coach of the Year honor. WKU Volleyball. 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. "Growing up, my dad made me write handwritten thank you notes after every official visit I took," Kowalkowski said. Two days after a third doctor's visit, a surgeon removed a section of his shoulder. Home; Schools. Hudson offered to come to practice and shag balls. Hudson is also the only coach in Conference USA history with 600 or more wins all at the DI level. The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. A four-time All-American during her career on The Hill from 2014-17, Cavanaugh is one of the most decorated players in WKU program history. A piece of plaque flaking off his artery had landed in the worst of places -- directly blocking the main valve that supplied blood to Hudson's heart. “It is with profound sadness that we deal with the loss of Alyssa Cavanaugh,” WKU Volleyball head coach … One name easily comes to mind when thinking of Western Kentucky University volleyball --Travis Hudson. Injuries mounted. 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). Hudson closed out WKU's time in the Sun Belt Conference with a 215-59 record (.785), as the athletic department joined Conference USA as a full-time member in July 2014. Last year wasn't that way. Head Volleyball Coach: Becca Acevedo: Assistant Volleyball Coach: Courtney Furlong: Graduate Assistant Coach : View Full Bio 1 Isabel Schaefbauer. Women's Volleyball Head Coach: Phillip White: Women's Volleyball Associate Head Coach: Kevin Carroll: Women's Volleyball Assistant Coach ... Louisville, Ky. WKU. The two-day attendance of 9,537 ranked fourth of the 16 host sites behind only the three national attendance leaders across the NCAA Volleyball season, Nebraska, Hawai’i and Wisconsin. By the time the bus pulled off of Interstate 65, Hudson had immersed himself into the 2019 season. One name easily comes to mind when thinking of Western Kentucky University volleyball --Travis Hudson. 16 in the AVCA National Poll in 2013 and finished as No. "The beautiful thing about being out there is that their phones don't get service," he said. It was a foggy year.". More:Alyssa Cavanaugh, Louisville native and former WKU volleyball star, dies at 24 Her journey started in Louisville. Every player has WKU notecards in her locker. BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Four-time All-American and WKU Volleyball legend Alyssa Cavanaugh passed away Friday morning at Norton Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. A fitness buff, he eats right. 15. WKU logged the second-best GPA in the nation (3.606) in 2000, and an equally impressive mark (3.56) in 2001. They open with Kennesaw State on Thursday, with that winner facing either Louisville or Samford. Five times the American Volleyball Coaches Association named him its South Regional Coach of the Year. Hudson embraces gratitude, especially because his heart attack scare wasn't his first brush with death. 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. "I've mailed over 150 notecards in the last few months," Hudson said. With an experienced core, the 2017 WKU Volleyball squad continued finding new records to break. WKU Volleyball player Alyssa Cavanaugh died Friday morning at Norton Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. The day he almost surely should have died. But the roots of this story predate his first entry. After a 2019 season in which the Western Kentucky University volleyball program continued to climb to new heights, the Conference USA coaches have picked the Hilltoppers to … This season marks the 20th consecutive year the Tops have won at least 20 games. They go back to the day before Easter in 2018. The senior ultimately won the fan vote and earned First Team All-American status from the prestigious organization. "I wasn't physically or maybe even mentally ready to return," Hudson said. 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. He loved basketball but was better at football and visited a handful of schools officially, including Western Kentucky. "Within seconds, there were close to 10 people in there in a hurry," Hudson said. "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 … "Everybody knows Travis Hudson," said setter Nadia Dieudonne, a transfer from Xavier. The poll was conducted among nearly 40 NCAA Division I men's and women's head coaches. To the contrary, he continues to ambitiously set new goals for his program and his players, pushing them to reach heights never before seen at WKU. He would go on to notch his 500th career victory a day later with a sweep of Colgate. "I'm proud of many things that have gone on here, but I'm proud of this season maybe more," Hudson said. Later that year, Hudson was named the head coach at WKU, making him (at the time) the youngest head coach in the nation at age 24. After taking over the helm in 1995 and finishing that campaign with a 7-26 overall record, a resurgence in WKU Volleyball came at an astounding pace. 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. 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. They repeated that feat in 2015 with a No. Follow @TravisHudsonWKU Follow @WKUVolleyball. "They usually don't make it to ICU because they die.". 21 in the nation in 2012, the first time in program history that a team finished the season ranked. On Oct. 21, 2018, Hudson secured his 600th career victory. In 2013, WKU volleyball had its first-ever Senior CLASS Award national finalist in Ashley Potts. The Lady Toppers boast a 100-percent graduation rate in Hudson's tenure, with eight of his players earning CoSIDA Academic All-District honors. Hudson had no family history of heart disease. "You got hit by lightning," his doctor would later tell him. WKU Volleyball Coach Named Finalist for National Coach of the Year. An immediate procedure inserting a stent to support the artery saved his life. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Lucas returns to WKU after two years on the Purdue staff under head coach Dave Shondell. ", Added Hudson: "It was going to be a rebuilding, challenging year anyway. 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. He was 47. Friday night’s attendance alone topped the two-day total of eight of the other sites. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team Hudson never touched a volleyball prior to attending Western Kentucky, just a half hour away from his hometown, Bee Spring. Normal, IL University H.S. On the court in 2016, WKU strung together one of the nation's longest winning streaks at 21-straight matches en route to its third-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. That streak would stretch to 38 matches before a setback at North Texas. The team was honored by the NCAA for having a multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in the top 10 percent nationally through the 2018-19 academic year, which marks the 14th-straight year the Lady Toppers ranked in the top 10 percent nationally. Hudson was tabbed both the C-USA Coach of the Year as well as the AVCA South Region Coach of the Year. 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. This NCAA tournament is also about savoring for Hudson. 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. 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. 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. 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. She was 24. Hudson is the cousin of former Hilltopper basketball great Bob Daniels, who lettered for WKU from 1954-57. On Oct. 6, 2017, Hudson led the unit to its 30th-straight win over a C-USA opponent for the league record. BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- WKU volleyball head coach Travis Hudson came in at No. A 1994 graduate of WKU, Hudson holds a bachelor's degree in business management with a marketing emphasis. BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Four-time All-American and WKU Volleyball legend Alyssa Cavanaugh passed away Friday morning at Norton Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. 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. The Louisville native was chosen as one of 10 volleyball players for the recognition based on criteria in classroom, competition, community service and character. On Friday morning, former WKU Volleyball All-American Alyssa Cavanaugh passed away at the Norton Hospital in Louisville. Lucas went on to join Potts while becoming the first Lady Topper to earn First Team honors from the organization. A "widowmaker" heart attack, among the deadliest kind, has just a 12% survival rate. Upon the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year, Cavanaugh earned Conference USA's Female Athlete of the Year honor. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team More:Alyssa Cavanaugh, Louisville native and former WKU volleyball star, dies at 24 Her journey started in Louisville. The APR accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation and provides a measure of each team's academic performance. He never dreamed that would be as volleyball coach at his alma mater. Records created by volleyball coaches regarding camps and team. But Hudson is not a man to rest on his accomplishments. 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. He has directed and staffed various volleyball camps both at the collegiate and high school levels throughout the region, including the WKU Volleyball Camp that he founded in the summer of 2000. The Hilltoppers coach doesn't fancy himself much of a writer, but he began to scribble down some thoughts. She was 24 years old. For a week in late June, Hudson traveled to Anaheim, Calif., to help coach the U.S. Women's Collegiate National Team. In total, she played in 139 matches as a Hilltopper. “I’ve dreamed of what I … The trophies have become less important as the memories multiply. For the fourth time in the last five seasons, WKU Volleyball will be represented at the U.S. Women’s Volleyball National Team Open Tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo., as Paige Briggs and Lauren Matthews will vie for a chance to wear the red, white and blue. The squad returned just two upperclassman front row players and only one that had seen significant court time. Despite an uphill battle to conquer, Coach Hudson led the squad to its 19th-straight 20-win season and secured the No. Indexed with yellow tabs, it goes where he does. Official Facebook page of the WKU Lady Topper volleyball team 2,207 talking about this. Hudson nearly signed a top-50 recruit but it didn't pan out. He has 23 winning seasons in his career, as he has 21 seasons with 20 or more wins as well as nine campaigns with 30 or more wins. The official Volleyball Coach List for the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels. He suggests they personally write notes of gratitude for even the smallest acts of kindness. WKU finished the year with a 30-3 record in addition to two more league titles. He has also spent time as a member of the polling committee for AVCA Top 25 rankings. Jessica Lucas and Alyssa Cavanaugh were both named Senior CLASS Award candidates and when the field narrowed to 10, Lucas was named a Senior CLASS finalist. She was 24. The Lady Toppers now look to give back in any way possible to FOJ and Hope for Harlie. "Nothing was given to this group. Two organizations the team shows great interest in is Hope for Harlie and the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation (FOJ), a charitable, non-profit organization that strives to enhance and strengthen the support system built around children with pediatric brain tumors. Hosting the C-USA Tournament for the first time, the Red and White put on a show for the Diddle Arena crowd, as the squad clinched its fourth-straight trip to The Dance. Hudson's student-athletes are also highly involved in the Bowling Green area, giving countless hours to community service efforts. Jessica Lucas was honored as the league's Setter of the Year in her final three seasons, 2015, 2016 and 2017 while Cavanaugh repeated as the league's Player of the Year. But he had no reason to suspect it was a heart attack. 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