CHS Student Athlete Honored with Academic Award as Team Vies for National Championship

By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director

College of Health Sciences’ student Asia Thigpen, a 5-11 outside hitter and libero for the No. 1 seed Kentucky Volleyball squad, was honored this week with the NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the sophomore student athlete or above from the four remaining teams who has the highest grade point average.

Thigpen, a sophomore from Pittsboro, N.C., majors in Human Health Sciences (on the pre-Physician Assistant track) and has a 3.953 GPA.

The Wildcats will face three-seeded Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. Sunday for the national championship at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The match will air nationally on ABC.

Thigpen said she was honored to receive the award, and credited her tutors and professors.

“Yeah, shout-out Ricky (Lumpkin), our academic advisor and everyone,” she said at Friday’s press conference. “They do a really good job at UK just preparing the student-athletes to be successful off and on the court. We have tutors, a lot of academic resources. I think a combination of that. Then just UK pushing us to be excellent both on and off the court.”

And Thigpen was one of the main catalysts in leading the Wildcats back from a hefty deficit in the national semifinal match against Wisconsin, notching eight kills while hitting .300. She also had three digs, one block and one assist.

In the future, Thigpen says she wants to see where her athletic career leads before she pursues a calling in a medical field.

“I plan to play beach volleyball after four years of indoor, and then I hope to go to medical school to become a dermatologist,” she said. “I love the leadership roles being a doctor gives me and the chance to help others improve their lives.”

But this weekend, she is focused on brining another volleyball championship home to Lexington.

“Everyone in this program is just so bought into each other,” she said. “I feel like freshmen and the transfers came in. I feel like I had known them for six months. It was super crazy the bonds we had off the court. You can kind of see that on the court. We’re just a special group of people. The coaches, the players, every single part of the staff is invested in this program.”