CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced the 2025 Volleyball All-Conference and special awards winners on Wednesday.
 
Earning the title of Player of the Year for the third year in a row is Macy Lentz (Park Hills, Ky.) from Transylvania University. The sophomore had a stellar season with the Pioneers, helping to lead them to an 8-1 conference record. The setter averaged 11.09 assists this season in conference play, leading the league, while averaging 10.15 assists overall - which puts her at No. 16 in the country. Lentz also had an impressive 366 assists while averaging 2.97 digs per set in HCAC play.
 
On the defensive side, the title of Co-Defensive Player of the Year is awarded to Lily Ebright (Wichita, Kan.) of the Rose-Hulman Fightin' Engineers and Madison Bizjak (San Diego, Calif.) of the Earlham Quakers. Picking up the title of Defensive Player of the Year for her fourth time, Ebright led the league in digs per set with a 6.00 average in conference play and a 5.98 average overall, which has her ranked as #7 in the country for digs per set and 10th in the country for total digs with 565. Bizjak, a junior on the No.1 Seed Quakers, currently sits at no. 2 in the league for digs with an average of 5.90 per set in conference play and 5.87 per set overall. She leads the league in total digs with 236 in conference play, while also ranking #2 in the country with 620 digs overall. 

The HCAC recognizes an athlete in their first year of athletic competition who stands out, and in a vote of league coaches, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Greta Carlson (Austin, Texas) was selected as the Newcomer of the Year. The first year ranked sixth in the league in kills per set at 3.29, while also finding herself ranked 7th in the league in average total points per set in overall play.
 
After leading the Quakers to a 8-1 record in conference play, Earlham's Lauren Horton was named the 2025 HCAC Coach of the Year. Horton helped lead Earlham to the No. 1 seed in the 2025 Championship Tournament for the first time since 2021.
 
Player of the Year: Macy Lentz, Transylvania University
Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Lily Ebright, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Madison Bizjak, Earlham College
Newcomer of the Year: Greta Carlson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Coach of the Year: Lauren Horton, Earlham College

Transylvania University is a proud member of the NCAA Division III and the HCAC. To keep up to date with all of Transylvania Athletics, check out our website at www.transysports.com and follow @TransySports on Instagram.