After winning consecutive Conference USA championships during Western Kentucky University’s first two seasons in the league, the Hilltoppers volleyball team has been picked as the preseason favorite by the league’s 13 coaches to take home the championship again in 2016.

Junior setter Jessica Lucas, of Seymour, an AVCA All-American performer a year ago, also was named the league’s preseason player of the year, while fellow All-American Allyssa Cavanaugh joined Lucas on the 12-member preseason All-Conference team.

Western Kentucky finished the 2015 season with a 32-4 record and went 15-1 in league play. The Hilltoppers ended last year’s campaign ranked at No. 22 in the AVCA Coaches Poll and sported a top-20 RPI, finishing at No. 16 in the final NCAA rankings.

Western Kentucky swept Pac-12 foe Arizona in their opening-round match of the NCAA Tournament in Provo, Utah.

Lucas led all of C-USA with 1,397 assists last season, good for 11.18 per set, also a league best. Cavanaugh led the Lady Toppers and ranked among the Top-10 in C-USA in kills with 400 on the season.

The Hilltoppers’ 153 combined wins during the past five seasons are second-most nationally behind only Penn State and boast the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation over that same span.