After leading the Longhorns to a volleyball national championship in 2022, Texas graduate Logan Eggleston has been named a Big 12 NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee as well as a semifinalist for the Amateur Athletic Union Sullivan Award.
Eggleston concluded her Longhorn career as the 2022 NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player and AVCA National Player of the Year, being the first athlete in Texas history to claim the title. She finished off her fifth and final year for Texas with 407 kills and 42 aces.
Coming to Texas at only 17 years old from Brentwood, Tennessee, Eggleston played for five years, now with 493 sets under her belt. She averaged a hitting percentage of .305, along with 1,921 kills, 981 digs and 293 career blocks. And to finish out her final season, Eggleston broke the Big 12 career aces record with 208 total aces.
In her departure letter to Texas volleyball, Eggleston expressed her gratitude to the Longhorns and to the city of Austin for giving her a second home.
“Thank you for trusting that 17-year-old kid and welcoming her into Gregory Gymnasium with open arms,” Eggleston said. “I’ve continued to feel the support every single day and it has made my experience so much more than I could have ever dreamed.”
The Texas graduate is one of two Big 12 NCAA Woman of the Year Nominees, alongside Oklahoma gymnast Olivia Trautman, and both were selected by Big 12 Senior Woman Administrators. Out of the 619 female student athletes being considered for the award, the top 30 candidates will be announced in October, with the top nine being announced in November. From those finalists, the NCAA Committee of Women’s Athletics will make its selection in January of 2024.
This achievement is awarded to a senior female student athlete who has distinguished themselves in all areas of their academic and athletic careers, including being active in community service, to which Eggleston has gone above and beyond in accomplishing.
Along with her success on the court, Eggleston has also helped create the DNA fund, an organization that raises money to be used toward athletic equipment and sporting events for underprivileged Austin youth. She is also a contributor of the LEAD initiative, which administers funds from Texas Athletics to nonprofit organizations and groups working for diverse communities.
Eggleston was also a four-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 member when she finished her time on the Forty Acres with a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management, and she is currently striving toward her master’s degree in sports management.
“I found my identity outside of my sport and my voice,” Eggleston said. “Volleyball has brought me more opportunities and opened my eyes to more things than I could have ever imagined.”
Besides this major accomplishment, Eggleston is currently a semifinalist for the Amatuer Athletic Union Sullivan Award. Named after James E. Sullivan, founder and former president of AAU, this honor commemorates the nation’s best athletes and relies on the public’s vote to nominate a winner.
Some memorable names from the list of Sullivan Award winners are Caitlyn Jenner in 1976, Michael Phelps in 2003, Ezekiel Elliot in 2014 and the first volleyball player to win the award, Lauren Carlinim in 2016. The 93rd annual award ceremony is set to be held on September 19, where Eggleston hopes to hear her name called if she becomes a finalist.
Eggleston currently plays for the Galatasaray HDI Insurance Women’s Volleyball Team located in Istanbul, Turkey, where she continues to inspire young athletes around the world while also making time to represent the Texas Longhorns on multiple platforms, including her most recent endeavor of speaking at the White House for NCAA National Champions during College Athlete Day in June.
