The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced its 30 Under Thirty lists on Tuesday and Lake Forest College Head Coach Melanie Hughes was among the college level honorees.

The 30 Under Thirty program recognizes up-and-coming coaches in different sectors of the sport who serve in a range of roles, from head coach to volunteer assistant to club director. Each of this year's recipients had to be age 30 or under as of Dec. 31, 2024, to qualify for the award. This year's list of Thirty Under 30 College Award recipients includes women's and men's indoor and beach coaches. These honorees work hard and are passionate about teaching, helping players reach their full potential, and growing the game at the collegiate level.

Hughes has coached at the high school, club, and college level since 2017. She came to Lake Forest in 2024 after three seasons as an assistant at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, where she earned AVCA Division III National Assistant Coach of the Year honors and was a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coaching Staff of the Year in 2022. While at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps she helped lead the team to three conference championships and a pair of NCAA Regional Tournament titles.

She began her coaching career as an assistant coach and was later the head coach at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Riverside, California. She also joined the staff and served as an assistant coach and then a head coach with Forza 1 North Volleyball Club in Ontario, California.

"I decided to coach volleyball because I felt moments of fulfillment very early on in my coaching career," recalled Hughes. "I have now coached girls and young women across all ages and it is such a great experience working with an athlete and figuring out new things together. Coaching volleyball has given me lifelong memories in which I have felt my most confident self and I am constantly seeing that confidence develop within my athletes."

Looking ahead, Hughes hopes to "continue to elevate the women's team at Lake Forest College. This program is rich with history and is deserving of more conference tournament appearances, conference titles, and a trip to the national tournament."

Hughes will begin her second season as the Foresters' head coach in August.