The 2024 season will mark Lauren Horton's tenth season at the helm of Earlham women's volleyball.
Horton also serves as Earlham's associate athletics director, a position she was promoted to in March 2021, with responsibility for directing the department's NCAA compliance efforts.
With a 6-3 conference record, the 2022 squad qualified for the HCAC tournament as the No.3 seed, and defeated Bluffton University at home in the opening round of the postseason. Maria Young, Liv Kyrk and Erin Wagner earned first team All-HCAC honors, libero Jen Shamel was named to the second team.
Horton was named 2021 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after the volleyball team won the 2021 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship with a conference record of 8-1. The Quakers defeated Transylvania University in the regular season 3-0 in Druley Performance Gym, and have now won a match against every HCAC competitor since joining the conference prior to the 2010 season. Four Quakers earned first team All-HCAC honors after the season (Maria Young, Giselle Mora, Erin Wagner, Liv Kyrk) and Maria Young was named conference MVP.
Earlham's 2019 season saw the Quakers post a 20-9 overall record, 6-3 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), and finish as runners-up in the 2019 HCAC Tournament after defeating Bluffton University and Hanover College in the opening round and semifinal before falling to No. 20 Transylvania in the tournament championship match. Three players were named to the All-HCAC teams.
The 2019 campaign also saw the culmination of senior setter Lauren Jackson's career; mentored for four seasons by Horton, Jackson capped her career in Maroon and White as the program's all-time assist leader (4,113), while setting every assist record in the Earlham volleyball record book.
In 2018, her fourth season at the helm of Earlham volleyball, Horton guided the Quakers to a 20-13 overall mark during the 2018 campaign, with a 6-3 HCAC record and a third-place finish in the conference standings. Earlham hosted an opening-round game in the 2018 HCAC Volleyball Tournament, dispatching Anderson University and advancing to the HCAC semifinal round. Five Quakers earned HCAC post-season honors, and Horton was named the 2018 HCAC Coach of the Year - becoming just the eighth Earlham head coach to receive top coach honors since Earlham joined the HCAC in 2010.
In her third season leading Earlham Volleyball, Horton guided the Quakers to a 15-13 mark in 2017 - the program's first winning season since 1991, and the most victories for the Quakers on the volleyball court since charting 18 wins during the 2000 campaign. Earlham posted a 3-6 mark in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), giving the Quakers their first conference wins since joining the league in 2010.
The foundation for 2017's benchmark season came in 2016 when Earlham Volleyball had six victories for its best win total in four seasons. Burton earned First Team All-HCAC honors to cap the season, making her the first Quaker to earn First Team All-HCAC honors since Earlham joined the conference.
In her first season leading the Quakers, Horton mentored Kayla Morris and Burton to Honorable Mention All-HCAC honors.
Horton spent 2014 as Earlham’s top assistant coach to then-Head Coach Jason Yhost. During the 2014 season, she coached three HCAC honorable mention honorees in Morris, Emily Lim, and Jolene Wells.
Prior to Earlham, Horton spent one season as an assistant coach at Clarkson University in New York. She aided Head Coach Johan Dulfer in helping the Golden Knights to a 36-7 record, an NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship regional title, and a national quarterfinals appearance in 2013. For their efforts, Horton and Dulfer were named the coaching staff of the year by the Liberty League.
Horton was a four-year starter at Indiana University-East from 2009-13. As team captain and setter, Crump led the Red Wolves to four conference tournament championships and four National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament appearances.
At IU East, Horton was a four-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Northeast Regional honoree as well as garnering Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors three times. Horton is also a three-time Tachikara-NAIA All-American. She also holds the distinction of being the NAIA’s all-time assists leader for the rally-scoring era.
Horton also excelled in the classroom, graduating from IU East with a degree in communications and a minor in sports marketing and management. She was honored as a CoSIDA First Team All-American as a senior.
Horton, her husband Jeff, and their daughters Zeta and Jovie, and son Elias, reside in Richmond.
*Last updated: August 7, 2024
