As the Sun Belt season comes to a close, several Lady

Toppers have been recognized by the conference after earning the

regular season conference title.

Junior outside hitter Jordyn Skinner was named Sun

Belt Player of the Year and sophomore defensive specialist Ashley

Potts was awarded Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday.

Skinner was also named first-team all-Conference,

along with senior middle hitter Tiffany Elmore and sophomore setter

Melanie Stutsman. Potts and senior middle hitter Lindsay Williams

were named to the second-team in the Sun Belt.

The awards were voted on by the coaches in the

conference.

Skinner has been a big part of the Lady Topper

offense all season, recording 401 kills and 361 digs over the

course of the 31 matches WKU played. She is the only Sun Belt

athlete to be ranked in the top-10 in the conference in kills, digs

and service aces.

This is the first time a WKU athlete has earned

Player of the Year in the conference since 2006, when Megan

Argabright won the award.

WKU Head Coach Travis Hudson, who voted for Skinner

for preseason Player of the Year in August, called Skinner

“special” after her 20-kill, 13-dig performance against Middle

Tennessee State on Friday.

“You just love watching her play,” he said. “She’s

just a special talent. It’s a pleasure to coach her.”

Potts, who started at libero for WKU in all 31

matches this year, recorded 455 digs this season and averaged 4.33

per set, which ranked second in the Sun Belt. She is the fourth

player in school history to earn the award and the first since

Tracy May in 2002.

The award-winning Lady Toppers will be put to the

test in the next three days at the Sun Belt tournament. They earned

the No. 1 seed by winning the regular-season title and will take on

Troy in the first round tomorrow at 4 p.m.