Photo Courtesy of Washington Demon Activities Social Media

One Washington Demon volleyball senior was voted best in the Southeast Conference for her 2025 season. Demon Leighton Messinger was named Southeast Conference Player of the Year, the third-straight season she has won the award, also taking it home for her play in 2023 and 2024. Messinger, this week’s KCII Athlete of the Week, spoke with KCII Sports about what the award means to her and the accomplishments of the program during her time with the Demons. “After seeing how many kills I got freshman and sophomore year I was like ‘oh, this (1,000 career kills) is something that’s possible for me’. Which is super cool and I’m very thankful for God blessing me with that opportunity. Having everyone else involved in that was a really special moment for me. (Winning Conference Player of the Year) was definitely a shock sophomore year. I was not expecting it. Junior year, I really didn’t think that would be me. Then it was something really cool getting it my senior year. That was a special moment for me but, overall, I can’t thank my teammates enough because without them it wouldn’t have been possible. I feel like everyone has always had my back and that’s been such a turning point for me in my career. I think (the accomplishments of the program) mean a lot to everyone involved. Washington hasn’t really been known for our volleyball program, at least not for a while so, to have a program that has made so much progress over the last few years and be a part of that has been something that’s really cool.”

Messinger finished with a conference best 320 kills and was second in the SEC with a .271 swing efficiency. She added 245 digs, 25 aces and 22 blocks. In her career she totaled 1,142 kills, a new Demon program record, 1,040 digs, 134 aces, 68 blocks and 56 assists. She hit both of her milestones of 1,000 kills and digs in her senior season. As a junior, Messinger was a leader on Washington’s first conference championship team in school history. As a senior, she was a leader on the Demon’s first 20-win season in more than 20 years. Washington finished 2025 with a 21-14 overall record.