The 2024 season was the first for Melanie Hughes as the Foresters' head coach and her fourth coaching at the collegiate level.
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.
Lake Forest featured a balance attack in the first season at the College for Hughes. Seven different players led the team in kills, 11 in aces, seven in digs, and eight in blocks at least once during the season. Juli Barrientos ranked among the Midwest Conference leaders in digs and was named Second Team All-MWC.
The Foresters were successful in the classroom in 2024-25 with Rebekkah De Kok and Meghan Winston being named Academic All-District® by College Sports Communicators and two-thirds (10 of 15) of the team earning Academic All-MWC honors. In addition, Lake Forest earned the AVCA Team Academic Award.
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.
