AJE Photography 2026

Lawton Named AVCA National Player of the Week

Libero earns first national honor

10/20/2026 12:59:00 PM

AVCA Release

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The weekly accolades kept rolling in for junior Alysa Lawton (Elmhurst, Ill.-IC Catholic Prep) of the top-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University women's volleyball team as she was appointed the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week, earning the first national honor of her career, Tuesday, Oct. 20. Lawton helped the Green and White to a 4-0 week with sweeps over North Park, UW-Stevens Point, Lawrence, and No. 2 UW-Oshkosh.

The national award puts the junior on a short list of Titans to haul in the honor, becoming the sixth member in program history to do so. She becomes the first Titan to be named AVCA National Player of the Week since Taylor French earned the distinction Nov. 2, 2025. Adding to her national accolade, Lawton collected her fourth College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin honor of the season yesterday, Oct. 20, and sixth of her career.

With the selection, Elmhurst, Ill. native becomes the second libero in program history to earn the award, joining Kannyn Boyd who took the honor for her performance in the opening week a season ago. The liberos are the only two from the position to earn the award in the past two seasons. Lawton also joins the likes of Taylor French and Tyler Brown who earned the award multiple times in their respective storied careers, along with Jessica McCall and Boyd.

Dazzling defensively during the week, Lawton protected the Titan back row with 5.25 digs per set over 12 sets. Her 63 digs over the week were coupled with 14 assists and four aces. To begin the week, She tallied 14 digs against North Park before heading to the Polito's Invite at UW-Stevens Point. Over the weekend, Lawton corralled 49 more digs for 5.44 digs per set to earn her a spot on the all-tournament team. Her four aces came in Wisconsin and dished out 12 of her assists over the weekend. Her defensive stability held opponents to a .139 hitting percentage. Her strongest performance of the week came against UW-Oshkosh where she made 19 digs and dished out four assists.

Lawton guides the Green and White to a conference contest against Carthage College Wednesday, Oct. 21. The battle between conference unbeatens is set for 7 p.m.

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