A historic career continued for Lauren Hackett when the California Baptist University graduate was named a Top 30 nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Hackett is just the second Lancer in school history to be selected as a Top 30 nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year. CBU's former outside hitter is one of 30 still in the running for the award out of 581 student-athletes who were originally nominated in mid-July.
"It's a really amazing feeling making it to the Top 30," Hackett said. "It's been a really fun and rewarding four years being a student-athlete, and an acknowledgement like this just gives me even more reason to be thankful for my time at CBU."
It also leaves her in rare company at CBU, with Mary Hanson being the only other Lancer to be selected to the Top 30 back in 2015. Although impressive, it is hardly surprising Hackett has moved so far along in the process.
Next, the selection committee will pick and announce nine finalists, with three from each division, and the NCAA committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those final nine.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual banquet Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.
Hackett's resume athletically, academically and in service makes her a great fit for the award. In college, Hackett served as a three-year member and two-year president of the International Justice Mission's CBU chapter. She also went on service projects to India and the Dominican Republic and served on the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
Through professional volleyball, Hackett hopes to do some anti-human trafficking and poverty-relief work with underprivileged women. She began her professional career with proWIN Volleys TV Holz of Saarbrücken, Germany this summer and is hoping sports can help positively impact her ministry.
"Now if I take it one step further, I am realizing the impact it can have later on," Hackett said of her move to play pro. "I want to see how sports can empower. I have a vision of going to the Philippines and using volleyball as a way of ministry, empowerment and keeping kids off the streets."
A dominant 2017 senior season ended an impressive career for Hackett. She was named the 2017 Player of the Year in the PacWest and NCAA Division II West Region by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She was a two-time All-American, first-team pick in the West Region and also voted an Academic All-American for the second year in a row by the College Sports Information Directors of America, on top of being named the PacWest Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year this season.
Overall, the Covington, Wash. native reaped five All-American and All-West Region awards in her career and was a first team All-PacWest pick all four years. She was also voted the Freshman of the Year in the PacWest, West Region and Division II in 2014.
In CBU's rally-era career record books, she ranks third in attacks (4,377), fifth in kills (1,687) and kills per set (4.04), seventh in blocks (279), ninth in sets played (418) and 11th in aces (112). Her attacks, kills, kills per set, aces and sets played rank first in the program's NCAA era (2013-17), while her blocks are the third most in that span.
As far as single-season records, Hackett holds NCAA-era bests in kills (492), attacks (1,188) and kills per set (4.47), which rank in the top 10 of the rally era, as well. She logged 20 or more kills in a match seven times and 25 or more kills four times, with an NCAA-era single-match record of 27 against Dominican on Sept. 24, 2016.
"[Volleyball] gave me a really solid platform to pursue everything I feel passionate about: volleyball, social justice, design, etc., and it makes me happy to know that I can bring a spotlight to the volleyball program at CBU and athletics in general," Hackett said. "My coaches, Branden Higa and Blair Penner, deserve a lot more recognition than they get and I want to thank them for everything again."