Briggs Earns South Region Player of the Year; Three Hilltoppers Recognized by AVCA

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Awards continued to roll in for WKU Volleyball as Paige Briggs was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) South Region Player of the Year, for the first time in her career on The Hill, in addition to two other Hilltoppers earning All-Region and honorable mention status.

Now becoming the second Hilltopper to repeat as an AVCA Region Player of the Year, the outside hitter also earned the honor following the 2020-21 campaign. Briggs, along with Kaylee Cox landed an All-Region spot — Cox’s first of her career — while redshirt-sophomore Callie Bauer collected her AVCA honorable mention All-Region, the second All-Region honor of her career. The AVCA regional breakdown is split into 10 regions across the country. The South Region hosts 37 schools across seven conferences including the likes of Arkansas, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Rice and fellow CUSA opponents in FIU, Liberty, and Middle Tennessee.WKU AVCA ALL-REGION AWARD BREAKDOWN
·        Briggs – Region Player of the Year, All-Region
·        Cox – All-Region
·        Bauer – Honorable Mention All-Region

Leading WKU and Conference USA, Paige Briggs collected 457 kills (3.97 per set) on the season, marking her third all-time in WKU history with 1,838 kills, and second all-time in attempts with 4,455 swings in her career on The Hill. The Ortonville, Michigan native also owns two program records in a single match, including most kills (35) and most service aces (10). One of the most complete players in the country, she averaged 2.39 digs/set, 45.0 total blocks from the outside, and averaged .50 aces a game which placed her 11th nationally. She was named the Conference USA Player of the Year for the first time in her career and tabbed CUSA First Team All-Conference honors for the five seasons. She has been named All-Region every year in her career and was named South Region Freshman of the Year in 2019, along with CUSA Freshman of the Year. She was named Honorable Mention All-American in 2020-21 and 2022.

With Briggs’ Region Player of the Year honor, WKU Volleyball has now seen a player win the award six of the last seven seasons, beginning with Alyssa Cavanaugh in 2017.

Briggs also collected Conference USA Player of the Year honors this season, while earning First Team All-Conference and All-Tournament Team for the fifth straight season — the only player in program history to do so. Cox earned All-Conference and All-Tournament status this season, alongside reigning CUSA Freshman of the Year, Callie Bauer.

In her first season as a Hilltopper, Cox is hit .318 for the season and picked up her 1,000th career kill in the last match of the season. She is fourth in CUSA in kills/set (3.39) and fourth in points/set (3.92). Another six-rotation player, Cox averaged 2.64 digs a set, and .50 blocks/set for a total of 60.0 — most of any outside hitter from WKU this season. Along with Preseason All-Conference, the Texas native was a CUSA Offensive Player of the Week, named CUSA All-Conference, and a member of the CUSA All-Tournament Team.

Bauer set her team to the sixth-highest hitting percentage in the nation at .303 on the season. The Hudson, Mich. native was the conference leader total assists on the season (1,246) and second in assists/set (10.47). Heavy offensively, she led CUSA in hitting as a setter with a .375 clip and 136 total kills. Bauer also picked up 27 aces from the line and 63.0 blocks at the net in all 119 sets played this season. In just her second season as a starter, the 6’0″ setter is 10th all-time in career assists (2,482) and 5th all-time in assists/set (10.79). She was named AVCA All-Region in 2022, a two-time CUSA All-Conference player, and was CUSA Freshman of the Year in her first season on The Hill.

Bauer was named to Conference USA’s volleyball All-Academic Team this season for her efforts in the classroom and on the court.