Lauren Matthews Tabbed 2022-23 CUSA Michael L. Silve Female Athlete of the Year

Dallas, Texas – The most decorated volleyball player in WKU Volleyball program history, Lauren Matthews, has been awarded Conference USA’s Michael L. Silve Female Athlete of the Year from the 2022-23 athletic season, announced Wednesday.

The Michael L. Silve Athlete of the Year award is the highest individual honor awarded by Conference USA. The award is named after C-USA’s founding commissioner, Mike Silve, and is determined by a vote from the conference’s athletic directors.

“It is most deserving for Lauren to be recognized as Conference USA’s female student-athlete of the year,” said Director of Athletics Todd Stewart. “One of the greatest players in our program’s rich history, she has played an instrumental role in elevating our volleyball program to a national prestige. WKU is one of only 13 programs in the nation to win both an NCAA Tournament match and finish the season ranked in the nation’s top 25 in each of the last four seasons. This does not happen without Lauren’s consistent excellence and routine clutch performances.”

Matthews joins the legendary Alyssa Cavanaugh (2017-18) as the second WKU Volleyball player to earn the conference-wide award. She is now the sixth Hilltopper to win the award, now back-to-back from WKU Football’s Bailey Zappe. Baseball’s Jake Sandford took home Male Athlete of the Year honors in 2018-19, followed by Cavanaugh. Football’s Brandon Doughty won the award for his efforts in the 2015-16, while WKU Softball’s Miranda Kramer was the first student-athlete on The Hill to earn the highest recognition in 2014-15. Since joining C-USA in July of 2014, WKU’s six Athlete of the Year winners are the most in the league (Rice, 3; UTEP, 3; MTSU, 2; FAU, 1; North Texas, 1)

In her five seasons on The Hill, Matthews has been a four-time All-American, four-time All-Region nominee, and three-time AVCA South Region Player of the Year. In Conference USA, Matthews is a four-time All-Conference and All-Tournament selection, three-time Conference Player of the Year winner, and was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2021.Matthews had worked at a .406 efficiency this season while striking for 467 kills and 114 total blocks in the 2022 campaign for averages of 4.21 and 1.03 per set, respectively. The Indianapolis, Ind. native started every set for the Hilltoppers in the middle in 2022. She was also named the league’s Preseason Player of the Year, collecting two C-USA Offensive Player of the Week and two Defensive Player of the Week honors.

The middle hitter leaves a legacy on the court as the program’s total blocks leader (530), block assists (386), block solos (144), and blocks per game (1.1). She is second all-time in total kills on The Hill (1,882) and left Bowling Green with the highest career hitting percentage of all time and the only player in the .400+ range with a .422 hitting clip.

She signed a professional contract after December graduation with the Nakhon Ratchasima DevilCats in the Women’s Volleyball Thailand League for the spring season and plans to play overseas in Europe in the fall.