Western Kentucky’s Alyssa Cavanaugh (right) hits past Charlotte’s Sofie Perrens on Sept. 25 during WKU’s 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-20) win at E.A. Diddle Arena. Cavanaugh was named Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year on Wednesday.

For the third consecutive season, Western Kentucky’s volleyball team has been picked as the Conference USA preseason favorites while landing a trio of Lady Toppers on the Preseason All-C-USA Team including Preseason Player of the Year Alyssa Cavanaugh.

It’s the second straight season a WKU player has received the individual honor after Jessica Lucas collected the accolade a year ago.

WKU volleyball coach Travis Hudson’s squad collected 11 of 13 first-place votes in the coaches’ poll while Rice and FIU received the remaining two. Rice finished second in the preseason poll while UTSA, Southern Miss and Marshall rounded out the top five. North Texas finished sixth in the voting followed by Florida Atlantic, UTEP, Middle Tennessee and FIU to round out the top 10. UAB, Louisiana Tech and Charlotte rounded out the poll.

Joining Cavanaugh on the preseason all-conference list for the third time is Lucas. Rachel Anderson was also selected to the team, marking the third time in WKU’s four years in Conference USA that three players landed on the preseason all-conference list. Additionally, all three earned American Volleyball Coaches Association all-region honors last season while each picking up at least one All-America honor.

Last season, Cavanaugh became the first Lady Topper to earn All-America nods from all three organizations in a single year, putting her career total up to five accolades. The Louisville native led WKU during 24 of 33 matches, including two career-high performances of 24 kills during the 2016 season. One of those career-best outings came during the Conference USA Tournament championship.

Also producing career numbers to help the Lady Toppers to their third straight C-USA Tournament title was Anderson, who tied the WKU program record with 31 kills in the five-set match with a .580 hitting clip. The Sturgis, Mich., native finished the year with a .414 hitting percentage, which ranked second in C-USA and 10th in the nation. She racked up 406 kills on the season.

Facilitating the second-best offense in the nation last season, Lucas led Conference USA with 11.64 assists per set, a mark that ranked sixth across the nation as well. The Seymour, Ind., native tallied 1,280 assists last year and reached 4,000 career assists during WKU’s final match of the season.

WKU is coming off its 15th straight 25-win season in 2016 while stretching its 30-win season streak to three consecutive campaigns with a 30-3 record.

The Lady Toppers secured their sixth straight regular-season conference championship with a 14-0 record in Conference USA action and remained perfect by winning the C-USA Tournament for the third straight year as well.

The tournament championship marked WKU’s 10th NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002 and the sixth appearance in the past seven seasons.