3 Female Volleyball players who have earned the James E. Sullivan Award ft Lexi Rodriguez

Modified Apr 16, 2025 05:33 GMT

3 Female volleyball players who won the James E. Sullivan Award [Image Source : Getty]

Former Nebraska Cornhuskers libero Lexi Rodriguez recently added another feather to her cap. The 22-year-old volleyball professional won the James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union of the USA.

Rodriguez received the award at the 95th edition of the AAU awards, conducted at the New York Athletic Club. The ceremony was broadcast on the ESPN channel for the first time this year.

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For the unversed, the James E. Sullivan award is named after the sports administrator James Edward Sullivan, who was one of the founding fathers of the Amateur Athletic Union. He was also one of the chief organizers of the 1904 Summer Olympics, which were originally scheduled to be held in Chicago, before eventually being shifted to St. Louis.

Rodriguez is only the second player from the Nebraska Cornhuskers to be nominated for this award since Mikaela Focke in 2018, and the first player to win the James E. Sullivan Award. In her address to the media after the ceremony, she said,

"To be here with Olympic and World champions, it hasn't sunk in yet. Thank you to the AAU for this incredible honor and want to give credit to all the athletes nominated. It's been an incredible couple of days."

Interestingly, Lexi Rodriguez is only the third female volleyball player to earn this award. Here are the other volleyball players apart from Lexi Rodriguez, who won the James E. Sullivan award for excellence in collegiate / amateur sports.

3 Volleyball players who won the James E. Sullivan Award ft. Lexi Rodriguez

1) Lauren Nicole Carlini :

Lauren Carlini, the first female volleyball player to receive the James E. Sullivan Award [Image Source : Getty]

The Olympic silver medalist who retired from international volleyball following the Paris Olympics, had won the James E. Sullivan award way back in 2016.

Lauren Carlini was a part of the Wisconsin Badgers as a setter. She joined the Badgers in 2024 as an offensive analyst and strategy consultant.

2) Kathryn Rose Plummer:

Kathryn Plummer in action at the Paris Olympics [Image Source : Getty]

The 26-year-old outside hitter was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award in 2018. Plummer used to represent the Stanford Cardinals during her collegiate career.

As a collegiate volleyball player, she contributed to three NCAA titles for the Stanford Cardinals in 2016, 2018, and 2019 respectively. Kathryn Plummer also contributed to the silver medal won by Team USA at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

3) Lexi Rodriguez :

Lexi Rodriguez in action at the League One Volleyball Pro season 1 [Image Source : Getty]

After an impressive collegiate career with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Lexi Rodriguez is currently representing the LOVB Omaha team at the League One Volleyball Pro season 1.

Before being awarded with the James E. Sullivan Award, Rodriguez was named the AVCA All-American four times. She was also awarded as the Big Ten Defensive Player / Libero Player of the Year three times.

About the author

Animesh Pandey is a seasoned content writer at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience, having previously worked as an intern for Follow Your Sport before joining SK as a columnist in 2017. A graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing, he also worked at TFI Media Private Limited and contributed as an intern for the movie website Nettv4u.

He has extensively covered events from World Championships to the Olympics, providing insights and analyses that resonate with his audience. His belief in mastering the basics and delivering accurate, relevant, and ethical information through thorough research is reflected in his work.

He was notably invited to the National Sports and Adventure Awards 2018 at Rashtrapati Bhavan after winning a MyGov quiz on Indian Sports, where he engaged with celebrated athletes such as Rahi Sarnobat, Hima Das, Jinson Johnson, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, and Subedar Neeraj Chopra, who also happens to be his favorite Olympian.

Despite being a field hockey enthusiast, Animesh's most cherished Olympic moments include Wayde Van Niekerk's unexpected world record in the 400 meters at Rio and Chopra's historic gold medal in Tokyo.

When not immersed in writing or watching the Olympics, Animesh indulges in his love for movies, embracing quality cinema regardless of the language.

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Edited by Pratham K Sharma