Nicole Lennon

Classroom

Lennon graduates from Rice University in December 2021 as a double major. She carries a 3.74 GPA in both psychology and economics. She is a three-time honoree of the Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Award, was named 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-District, and was a 2021 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American.

Lennon was also named to the C-USA All-Academic Team two times, was awarded a Conference USA Academic Medal in spring 2021, and has been named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll four times.

In addition to the classroom, Lennon has conducted research at Rice University and at the University of Houston. For her Senior Honors Thesis, she focused on disciplinary disparities in elementary school children due to differences in race, gender, and racial stereotypicality. She was awarded the Jenessa Shapiro Prize for Best Undergraduate Thesis for her academic work by the Rice Psychological Sciences department.

She is a member of the Rice University Psi Chi Honor Society, the Rice Undergraduate Scholars Program, and a student member of the American Psychological Society.

Character

Lennon constantly works to better herself.

She is highly self-motivated and an extremely hard working individual, as evident in her play. Things that can’t be seen in her play are how trustworthy, reliable, intelligent, thoughtful, and accountable she is on a daily basis.

The Rice Volleyball program does not have team captains, but Lennon has been a consistent leader and collaborator with her teammates for her 5 seasons in the program.

Community

Lennon is an active participant in the community at Rice. On campus, she serves as a Peer Wellbeing Athletic Advisor, a peer-based mental health resources program for Rice athletes.

Off campus, since Fall 2019, Lennon has tutored Kindergarteners through 8th graders weekly at the FORGE for Families, a Christian non-profit after-school program located in the one of the most underserved areas of Houston, devoting almost 100 hours there. She has also volunteered several times a year at the Houston Food Bank in the Warehouse and Kitchen and with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, educating and informing citizens and legislators about bills proposed at Texas legislative sessions.

Lastly, Lennon has spent 1000+ volunteer hours conducting research over the last 3 years both on Rice University campus and on the University of Houston campus. Her research focus is on the effects of discrimination on marginalized groups, such as minority racial/ethnic groups, women, those with minority religious identities, those with disabilities, and those who are LGBTQ+, and remedies for both the mental health of those discriminated against & for the systemic barriers that they face.

Competition

Lennon has made her mark as one of the all-time greats at Rice. She currently has the most career kills (2,037) of any Rice player in program history.

She has been named the C-USA Player of the Year twice (2018, 2021) and was recognized to the 2020-21 AVCA All-America Third Team, as well as a two-time AVCA All-America honorable mention selection. She was selected to the VolleyballMag.com Second Team All-America in spring 2021. For three years in a row, Lennon has been awarded C-USA First Team All-Conference, and as a freshman in 2017, she was named the C-USA Freshman of the Year.

Heading into this season, Lennon ranked second in the NCAA in active career kills and attacks, and now is one of only three active players with over 2,000 career kills, and the only active player with over 2,000 career kills and over 1,000 career digs.

She has helped the Owls to one Conference USA Championship, two West Division titles, and to the NCAA Tournament three straight years.