No. 33 is No. 1: Texas' Logan Eggleston the first Longhorn named AVCA player of the year

OMAHA, Neb. — One day before the biggest game of her career, Texas senior Logan Eggleston earned perhaps her biggest honor.

Texas' star outside hitter was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Division I national player of the year on . She was honored at the AVCA's annual awards luncheon.

Eggleston is the first Longhorn to win that award, which was first given to Stanford's Kim Oden in 1985. Texas' Dawn Davenport was recognized as the NCAA's player of the year in 1988, but the AVCA's top honor instead went to Long Beach State's Tara Cross.

"There's so many great volleyball players in the country and on our team. It's really an honor to get recognized like that," Eggleston said. "It's definitely a team award. I couldn't have gotten the award without all the hard work my teammates put me in. They put me in great situations every single point. It's honestly truly a team award."

Eggleston has averaged a team-high 4.22 kills per set this season. A six-rotation player for much of the year, she also has hit .295, served 42 aces and recorded 161 digs. With Eggleston leading the way, Texas (27-1) has made it to the NCAA championship match; the Longhorns will play Louisville (31-2) on Saturday night. Their last national title was in 2012.

With one match left, Eggleston already has served a school-record 208 aces. With 1,902 kills and counting, she will finish behind only Mira Topic (2,116 kills in 2001-04) and Demetria Sance (2,013 in 1995-98) in the UT record books.

"I love her strength and her courage. I think that she's a tremendous leader for that program," San Diego coach Jennifer Petrie said this week. "She's a fierce competitor, and she really is the driving force of that program, and it's fun to watch her play because she just has so much competitive energy."

"Great player," Marquette coach Ryan Theis said this month. "Her all-around game has really improved throughout the course of her career, and she plays really hard. She might be on our national team someday, and she's fun to watch."

The award is a crowning achievement for a collegiate career that began in 2018 when Eggleston skipped her senior year of high school in Tennessee and joined the Longhorns. The AVCA gave her second-team designation on its All-American team in 2019. She has been a first-year pick in the three seasons since.

Eggleston, Sance, Haley Eckerman, Chiaka Ogbogu and Micaya White are UT's only four-time All-Americans. Eggleston (2020-22) and Eckerman (2012-14) are the lone Longhorns to be named the Big 12's player of the year three times.

"She's accomplished so much, not only for Texas volleyball, but also just volleyball as a whole," teammate Madisen Skinner said of Eggleston. "She's helped grow the game and inspired so many different people, and it's an honor to be able to play with her. She's definitely going to go down as one of the best players in collegiate volleyball, and her legacy will continue through professional volleyball."

Among the qualifications in the Texas athletic department for a jersey retirement has been the winning of a national player of the year award. No UT volleyball player has received that honor yet. If Eggleston is the first, she will be the third and final player to ever wear the No. 33 for the Longhorns.

On Friday afternoon, Eggleston was asked why she wore that number both at Texas and Brentwood High. Eggleston explained that was the number her father, Stan, wore while playing college basketball.

"It was my dad's number. He played Division III basketball back in the day back at Emory & Henry in Virginia. Small, small school, but he was a third-team All-American, he tells me," Eggleston said. "He was a good player. He was 33, and I decided I wanted to follow in his footsteps. He was a great athlete. So I decided to be 33, and it's worked out pretty well for me."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas' Eggleston becomes first Longhorn to win AVCA top player award