The 2025 season was the second for Melanie Hughes as the Foresters' head coach and her fifth coaching at the collegiate level.
Lake Forest once again featured a balance attack in the second season at the College for Hughes. Eleven different players led the team in kills, aces, digs, or blocks at least once during the season, including eight who did so five or more times.
The Foresters have been successful in the classroom since Hughes became the head coach with three players earning Academic All-District® from College Sports Communicators in 2025 after two accomplished the feat the previous year. In addition, two-thirds (10 of 15) of the team was named Academic All-MWC and Lake Forest received the AVCA Team Academic Award in the summer of 2025.
In April of 2025 the American Volleyball Coaches Association of America (AVCA) included Hughes in its 30 Under Thirty program, which recognizes up-and-coming coaches in the sport.
Hughes came to Lake Forest after three seasons as the top assistant at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges. She helped lead the Athenas to an 87-9 overall record, a 46-2 mark in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, and three regular season and postseason SCIAC titles in as many years on staff. The team also advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament in two of those three seasons and reached the regional final in the other.
For her coaching efforts, Hughes was named Division III National Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2022.
While overseeing the defense and assisting the head coach in nearly every aspect of the program, Hughes helped develop the 2022 AVCA Division III National Player of the Year, the 2022 and 2023 SCIAC Defensive Player of the Year, the 2023 AVCA West Region Player of the Year, and the 2021 AVCA Division III Freshman of the Year. Those four were among the six CMS players who earned All-American status during her time on staff.
In addition to her role at CMS, Hughes was an assistant or head coach for Forza 1 North Volleyball Club for five years. She also hosted Nike US Volleyball camps and clinics.
Hughes is a graduate of Western New Mexico University, where she majored in English and racked up more than 1,500 assists and nearly 100 aces during her career on the volleyball team.
