DALLAS - Conference USA unveiled its all-conference and all-freshman awards on Wednesday ahead of the 2019 C-USA Volleyball Championship, set to begin Friday in Houston. The league's superlative honors will be released Thursday afternoon.
 
Eight teams each collected multiple awards. Championship host No. 21 Rice led the field with six all-conference selections, including one all-freshman team winner. No. 19 WKU, the No. 1 seed and C-USA Regular Season Champion, received four all-conference nods with three being named to the All-C-USA First Team. Florida Atlantic and North Texas both garnered four all-conference honors apiece. All postseason awards are voted on by the league's 13 head coaches.
 
WKU (28-1, 14-0 C-USA) braces for postseason action after polishing off the best regular-season in program history, claiming the regular-season crown for the fifth time in six seasons as a C-USA member. Sophomore Lauren Matthews, junior Nadia Dieudonne and freshman Paige Briggs were voted first-team selections for the Lady Toppers. Matthews' .454 hitting percentage reigns as second among all NCAA Division I players and her 4.03 kills and 1.19 blocks per set lead WKU. Dieudonne, a six-time C-USA Setter of the Week recipient, leads the league in assists, while her assists per set rate are ranked second. Briggs earned the all-conference and all-freshman nods after seven weekly newcomer votes throughout the year. Briggs impacted both sides of the ball for the Toppers, ranking top three in kills, digs and service aces.
 
The Owls (24-2, 13-1) touted a pair of first-team honorees in junior Nicole Lennon and sophomore Anota Adekunle as Rice bested the school record for conference wins this season. Lennon has been an integral piece of the Rice offense, earning C-USA Offensive Player of the Week a record seven times. Lennon powered a league-leading 4.89 kills per set during the regular-season slate, a clip that currently ranks eighth in the country. She also averaged a league-most 5.26 points and team second-best 3.45 digs. Adekunle's 0.84 blocks per set are the second-highest mark among all Owls, and her average kills (3.21) and points (3.74) totals also trail Lennon's top numbers.
 
Third-place North Texas (16-10, 10-4) also hoisted a pair of players on the first team in sophomore Rhett Robinson and senior Valerie Valerian. Valerian is coming off of her first C-USA All-Academic Team win, announced on Tuesday. The senior is the lone Mean Green player to appear in more than 100 sets in the regular season. She is the team leader in nearly every category, including kills (427), kills per set (4.23), digs (314) and digs per set (3.11). Robinson trails her with 3.49 points and 3.03 kills per set and adds to her conference accolades after becoming an all-freshman winner last year.
 
Charlotte (16-15, 5-9) senior Yumi Garcia was voted to her third-straight and final first team after she claimed the top spot on the conference's single-season digs record. The two-time C-USA Libero of the Year also broke the 49ers' all-time career digs mark in the team's final regular-season tilt. Garcia amassed an NCAA second-most 725 in 2019, giving her 2,023 in her three-year tenure, and her 6.47 per set rate led the nation in 2019. 
 
Florida Atlantic (15-10, 9-5) senior Massiel Matos capped her regular season with her career's first 20-20 double-double. The season-high 22-kill outing boosted her team-leading total to 265 on the year, while she also tops all Owls with 33 service aces and 3.58 points per set. The first-team nod is the second of her career, the first coming in 2018.
 
Three-time C-USA Offensive Player of the Week this season Ciara Debell was awarded her career's first all-conference award. Marshall (18-9, 9-5) clinched a spot in the league's postseason tournament after missing the trip in 2018 with the help of Debell leading the Thundering Herd offense. The redshirt junior leads in points (4.83) and kills per set (4.22), which is the third-best clip in C-USA.
 
UTSA (15-12, 8-6) senior Kara Teal was voted to the first team after second-team recognition in 2018. The middle hitter leads the Roadrunners with 41 blocks on the year and her .394 hitting percentage lands fourth in the league rankings.
 
The 2019 C-USA Championship runs from Nov. 22-24 with the first quarterfinal matchup set for 12 p.m. CT Friday. Coverage from Rice's Tudor Fieldhouse can be found on conferenceusa.com and its Championship Central page.

All-Conference First Team
Yumi Garcia, Charlotte
Massiel Matos, Florida Atlantic
Ciara Debell, Marshall
Rhett Robinson, North Texas
Valerie Valerian, North Texas
Nicole Lennon, Rice
Anota Adekunle, Rice
Kara Teal, UTSA
Lauren Matthews, WKU
Nadia Dieudonne, WKU
Paige Briggs, WKU

All-Conference Second Team
Sydney Rowan, Charlotte
Sigourney Kame, Florida Atlantic
Zuri Smith, Florida Atlantic
Sydney Nemtuda, Florida Atlantic
Dora Peonia, Middle Tennessee
Kaliegh Skopal, North Texas
Lee Ann Cunningham, Rice
Adria Martinez, Rice
Grace Morgan, Rice
Cheyenne Jones, UTEP
Sophia Cerino, WKU

All-Freshman Team
Kayla Henley, Middle Tennessee
Alysha Johnson, North Texas
Ellie Bichelmeyer, Rice
Fernanda Maida, UAB
Rachel Morse, UAB
Bianca Ejesieme, UTSA
Paige Briggs, WKU