Jacksonville, Florida-Edward Waters Associate Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Dr. Ivana Rich has selected Lauren Ford as the new head coach of the EWU Women's & Men's Volleyball Programs.

A former professional player for five-plus years in Finland, Germany, the Philippines, Switzerland and Spain, Ford played Division I volleyball at the University of South Carolina, where she was a three-year letterwinner from 2003 to 2006. She graduated with a degree in Experimental Psychology.
 
Ford comes to Jacksonville after serving as the head men's volleyball coach at Goshen College, an NAIA program in Goshen, Indiana, where she became the first woman to lead the men's volleyball program at Goshen and the second woman to lead a men's program at the institution.
 
During her lone season as head coach, Ford led the Maple Leafs to a 20-9 overall record and an even 7-7 mark in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play. Ford also served as an assistant coach for the Goshen women's team from 2019-2021.
 
Prior to her time at Goshen, she was the head volleyball coach in the Pocono Mountain school district in northeastern Pennsylvania in 2018. Before that, she served as head volleyball coach at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis in 2015 and assisted the Warriors from 2012 to 2014.
 
She has also been a travel coach for All-American Volleyball Camps since 2012 and was a Team Indiana Volleyball Club head coach from 2014-16.
 
At South Carolina, Ford graduated with the most kills per set and second-most blocks of any player in the rally scoring era. Entering the 2019 season, she ranked 10th and sixth, respectively, in those categories. She still holds the rally-era record for blocks per set at 1.12.
 
Ford's 2004 season went down in Gamecock history with 118 blocks, a rally-era record, and a mark of 1.27 blocks that still stands as a record. Her 75 blocks in Southeastern Conference play were the second-
 
most in program history to that point, and she still holds the program record with 13 blocks in a match. She was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week on October 12, 2004.
 
Ford hails from Indianapolis, Indiana,  where she prepped at Lawrence North High School before going on to play her freshman season at the University of Wisconsin. She was a member of the 2001 U.S. Youth National Training Team and also lettered in basketball and track at Lawrence North. 

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