MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Following a week in which she helped the Mountaineers clinch their first-ever win over a top-25 opponent, West Virginia University volleyball sophomore Payton Caffrey has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
 
The Mountaineers closed their 2017 regular-season slate with back-to-back road wins in Big 12 play, defeating Kansas State, 3-0, on Wednesday and topping No. 14 Kansas, 3-2, on Saturday. With Wednesday's win, WVU earned a season sweep over the Wildcats for the first time in program history. The Mountaineers also captured their first-ever win over a top-25 opponent, defeating the Jayhawks for the first time in program history on Saturday.
 
Caffrey paved the way for WVU offensively, registering 41 kills on 95 attacks to hit .337 in two matches. The Chuluota, Florida, native averaged 5.12 points, 0.75 service aces and 5.94 points per set to rank second in three categories among all Big 12 players for the week. Caffrey totaled 13 kills on 30 attacks to hit .400 in the win at K-State. She also led the defense with 15 digs to go along with three service aces, two assists and one block attack. Caffrey more than doubled her kill total three days later, notching a season-best 28 kills on 65 swings to earn a .308 hitting efficiency vs. the Jayhawks. She also added 13 digs and three service aces in the upset win.
 
This Week in Women's Basketball: The Mountaineers will travel to Texas A&M on Sunday for the Big 12/SEC Challenge … tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET in College Station, Texas … the game will be carried on ESPNU.
 
Last Week in Women's Basketball: No. 11/13 West Virginia went  3-0 on the week to claim the Island Division of the 2017 Paradise Jam Tournament in Melbourne, Florida … WVU started things off with a 75-68 win over Butler on Thursday … junior guard/forward Naomi Davenport collected her fourth double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds … senior forward Teana Muldrow led the scoring with 18 points, while senior guard Chania Ray had 16 … all five starters finished in double-figure scoring … on Friday, the Mountaineers picked up a 75-42 win over Drexel behind 25 points from Muldrow … Ray went 3-for-3 from the perimeter for 11 points … junior guard Katrina Pardee and senior forward Kristina King each finished with 10 points … WVU claimed the division with a 79-61 victory over RV/NR Virginia Tech on Saturday evening … Muldrow again led the scoring with 23 points and 11 rebounds … Ray sunk five 3-point shots on her way to 17 points … King finished with a career-high tying four blocks in the win.
 
Notes: West Virginia went 3-0 on the week to move to 6-0 on the season … senior forward Teana Muldrow was named the Paradise Jam Island Division MVP … she averaged 22.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg through the tournament … senior forward Chania Ray joined her on the all-tournament team … Ray capped the week with 11 3-pointers and 17 assists, averaging 14.0 ppg … she went 3-for-3 against Drexel, tying the Paradise Jam record for 3-point percentage at 100 percent … the Mountaineers shot 6-of-8 from beyond the arc against the Dragons … they shot 75 percent to set a new Paradise Jam single-game record … Saturday's meeting with Virginia Tech marked the first tilt with the Hokies since 2006 … the 79-61 win was WVU's first since 2004 … WVU is now 130-100 all-time in neutral-site contests … the Mountaineers' wins over Butler and Drexel were their first over each program … West Virginia moved up to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top-25 after previously ranking at No. 12 … the Mountaineers also moved up two spots to No. 13 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Top 25.
 
This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the fourth straight year, as the Mountaineers set to compete in the 2017 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational held on Dec. 1-2 … both days of competition are slated to begin at 11 a.m. ET, with a live broadcast available on FloWrestling.com … a total of 30 teams will compete at this year's Cliff Keen event … No. 12 Arizona State, No. 15 Cornell, Iowa State, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 9 Michigan, No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 19 Wisconsin will all be in action in Vegas.
 
Last Week in Wrestling: WVU (0-2, 0-1 Big 12) suffered a 28-13 defeat at the hands of No. 13 Nebraska at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown on Saturday afternoon … the Mountaineers picked up three decisions over the Cornhuskers at 157, 174 and 125 pounds, respectively … redshirt freshman Matthew Schmitt, ranked No. 20 by The Open Mat, wrapped up the match at 133 pounds with a major decision over Nebraska's Brian Peska to move to 10-2 on the year.
 
Notes: The Mountaineers are set to compete in their third tournament of the season … West Virginia has placed six wrestlers on the Cliff Keen podium in the Sammie Henson era, as redshirt senior Jacob A. Smith earned his third consecutive podium finish at 197 pounds last year, finishing in fourth for the second straight season … a trio of wrestlers rank inside the top 20 of their respective weight classes … Smith is ranked in the top 8 nationally by a trio of media outlets at 197 pounds ... the Charleston, West Virginia, native appears at No. 6 according to Intermat and FloWrestling and is ranked No. 8 by The Open Mat ... redshirt junior Zeke Moisey comes in at No. 17 in Intermat's latest top-20 poll ... the Northampton, Pennsylvania, native also ranks No. 18 via FloWrestling at his weight of 125 pounds ... at 133 pounds, Schmitt checks in at No. 20 via The Open Mat for the second consecutive week.
 
Coach Sammie Henson following Saturday's loss vs. Nebraska: "All we asked them to do was to come out and compete hard, and I think they did just that. We didn't come up with the wins we needed, but we fought hard and wrestled hard. We did what we needed to do for ourselves, and we can walk away from today and build on that. If you have a hard performance and you give everything you have, what more can you ask for?"
 
This Week in Volleyball: West Virginia will make its first appearance in the postseason since 1991 after earning an automatic bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) Sunday evening … the Mountaineers (18-12, 6-10) play host to Maryland Eastern Shore (27-8, 11-0 MEAC) in the second of two matches on Tuesday, Nov. 28, with first serve set for 7 p.m. ET, inside the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown ... Campbell (20-11, 10-6 Big South) and Temple (19-9, 15-5 AAC) will meet at 4:30 p.m. in the first contest ... the winners of Tuesday's matches will meet on Wednesday, Nov. 29, in the tournament's second round at 6 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum ... single-match tickets are available at a cost of $6 for general admission, $5 for students and $4 for youth and seniors … groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $3 each.
 
Last Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers closed their 2017 regular season slate with two Big 12 road wins, defeating Kansas State, 3-0, on Wednesday and topping No. 14 Kansas, 3-2, on Saturday ... with Wednesday's win, WVU earned a season sweep over the Wildcats for the first time in program history ... the Mountaineers also captured their first-ever win over a top-25 opponent, defeating the Jayhawks for the first time in program history on Saturday ... WVU averaged a .287 hitting percentage in the two matches, totaling 108 kills on 254 swings to rank third in hitting efficiency among all Big 12 programs for the week … the Mountaineers also registered 102 assists in addition to 14.5 team blocks and 11 service aces.
 
Notes: West Virginia finished fifth in the Big 12 Conference and had an 18-win season for the first time since 2013 … with 18 wins this year, third-year coach Reed Sunahara has earned his highest win total as head coach of the Mountaineers ... WVU also marked a 6-10 Big 12 Conference record, matching its six-win total from 2014 … the 2017 NIVC Tournament returns from a hiatus in place since 1995 and will consist of 32 teams with participating schools hosting all matches ... teams are offered automatic berths by the NIVC when they are the highest-finishing team in its conference regular-season standings and are not selected for the NCAA Tournament ... originally known as the Women's Invitational Volleyball Championship, the NIVC made its first run from 1989-1995 ... through 30 matches, sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey leads the Mountaineers in kills with 388, sophomore setter Erin Slinde leads in assists with 892; freshman defensive specialist Alexa Hasting leads in digs with 303; senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan leads in blocking at 138.0 … Caffrey also leads the squad with 51 service aces on the year … as a team, West Virginia is hitting .220 and holding its opponents to a .191 clip, while out blocking its opponents, 254.5-244.0 … Caffrey continues to lead the Big 12 with 0.46 service aces per set and ranks inside the top 10 in points (fifth) and kills (sixth) … Slinde also sits inside the top 10 in assists (seventh) and service aces (eighth), averaging 9.29 assists and 0.23 service aces per set … Swanegan ranks second in the league with 1.25 blocks per set.

Coach Reed Sunahara after last Saturday's match vs. No. 14 Kansas: "It was a great week for us. Kansas is a top-15 team, and it was a great test for us to overcome adversity. I'm so proud of the way we battled. They just never gave up. It was unbelievable. To have the seniors go out with a win like today, I couldn't have asked for anything better."
 
This Week in Rifle: Multiple members of the No. 1-ranked Mountaineer rifle team will compete at the 2017 USA Shooting Winter Air Gun Championship, on Dec. 1-3, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 
Last Week in Rifle: WVU did not compete last week.
 
This Week in Swimming & Diving: WVU is off this week … the teams next compete against Pitt on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the WVU Natatorium.
 
Last Week in Swimming & Diving: The Mountaineers did not compete last week.
 
Notes: WVU last competed at a pair of meets on Nov. 17-19 … the Mountaineer swimmers traveled to the Ohio State Invitational, where the men's team earned an eighth-place team finish, while the women took 11th … redshirt senior Nate Carr earned three top-five finishes in Columbus, including a fourth-place finish in the 200 and 400 individual medleys and a fifth-place finish in the 200 breaststroke … the Mountaineers finished with a combined 11 top-10 finishes at the three-day event … WVU divers competed at the Frank Elm Invitational, hosted by Rutgers University … senior Michael Proietto earned a win on the platform to go along with a second-place finish on 3-meter and fourth on 1-meter.