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Former Nebraska Volleyball star Lexi Rodriguez was recently honoured with the AAU James E. Sullivan Award. With this, she replaced WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark, who won the award in 2023 and 2024, and the former Husker was mind-blown at her accomplishment.
The AAU James E. Sullivan Award is one of the most prestigious honours awarded to an athlete in the USA. Each year, the award is bestowed upon the nation's best athlete competing at an elite level. In 2024, Clark became the first two-time winner of the honor after her spectacular collegiate career with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
In 2025, Lexi Rodriguez was named the winner of the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, making her only the third volleyball player to earn this honor. Recently, the official Instagram account of Nebraska Volleyball shared a post highlighting the past three winners of the prestigious honour. Reacting to her name replacing Caitlin Clark’s, Rodriguez re-shared the post on her Instagram story and added four ‘mind-blown’ emojis.
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Lexi Rodriguez extends her gratitude to the Nebraska Huskers after winning the AAU James E. Sullivan Award
Apart from becoming only the third volleyball player in history to win the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, Lexi Rodriguez is also only the second University of Nebraska student to earn this prestigious honour.
In her acceptance speech during the award ceremony, Rodriguez highlighted the support she received from the Nebraska coaching staff as well as her Husker teammates, saying:
“This is very overwhelming but super exciting. I could say thank you to so many people. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn't for everyone at the University of Nebraska, all my coaching staff and my teammates, who are here with me today, and all the belief that they had in me throughout my college career. Truly it is such an honor, so thank you.”
She went on to thank the whole of the Nebraska volleyball community, adding:
“I want to say thank you to the Husker volleyball community and just the whole state of Nebraska, because if you've ever heard of Nebraska volleyball you know that the fans are pretty crazy. They're amazing and their support was just so incredible to have. I know that a lot of them probably voted and so if you're watching at home thank you.”
After calling time on her collegiate career with the Huskers in December 2024, Lexi Rodriguez has gone on to compete in the debut season of League One Volleyball, where she helped her team, LOVB Omaha, finish as runner-ups.
