Lipscomb Volleyball’s Meg Mersman finds community, calling at Lipscomb

Lipscomb Volleyball's Meg Mersman finds community, calling at Lipscomb

Kim Chaudoin | 06/12/2026

When Meg Mersman first visited Lipscomb University as a high school student from Greenback, Tennessee, she found something she did not expect - a place that felt both close-knit and full of opportunity.

It had the warmth of a small community, the energy of the thriving city of Nashville and a volleyball program that saw her as more than an athlete.

"I chose Lipscomb initially for the small-town feel that I was able to experience in a big city," said Mersman. "The environment that I could feel from visiting before I even got here as a student made me excited for the relationships that I would develop."

That decision brought Mersman to Lipscomb as a student-athlete, a middle blocker for the Lipscomb volleyball team and, ultimately, a graduate prepared for the next step in a calling shaped by faith, discipline and community. Mersman earned her undergraduate degree in exercise science through Lipscomb's kinesiology program in May 2024 and completed her master's degree in exercise and human performance this spring.

For Mersman, athletics played a significant role in her decision to attend Lipscomb. Recruited to play volleyball, she said she quickly saw that the university's athletic department was committed to developing students in every part of their lives.

"When I was recruited to play volleyball at Lipscomb and enjoyed the athletic department's attention to detail in caring about me as more than a player, but as a college student as well," she said.

Mersman played five years for the Bisons, receiving an additional year of eligibility after much of her freshman season was disrupted by COVID-19. Mersman's impact on the Bisons volleyball program was significant. A middle blocker, she became one of the ASUN's top players and earned the league's highest individual honor when she was named ASUN Player of the Year in her senior season. That season, she also received AVCA All-American honorable mention recognition and was named to the AVCA All-South Region Team. Over her Lipscomb career, Mersman was a two-time All-ASUN First Team selection, a two-time All-ASUN Second Team selection, a two-time ASUN All-Tournament Team honoree and a member of the ASUN All-Freshman Team. She also earned multiple weekly conference honors, including ASUN Player of the Week, ASUN Freshman of the Week and three ASUN Defensive Player of the Week awards. Her success extended beyond the court as well, with recognition on the 2024 ASUN All-Academic Team and the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

As an NCAA Division I student-athlete, Mersman had to balance the demands of competition, travel, academics and personal growth. She described the experience of juggling D-I athletics and graduate school as "one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do."

But she also said Lipscomb's volleyball program emphasized a key lesson that helped her succeed: build relationships with faculty.

"One of the most important things to the volleyball program was developing a relationship with professors as a student-athlete," said Mersman. "I believe that the relationship I developed with each professor really enabled my success in the classroom."

Those relationships became a defining part of her Lipscomb experience. Across classrooms, practices, competitions and campus life, Mersman said she found encouragement from the people around her.

"I believe that every professor, teammate and coaching staff member that I have crossed paths with in my time at Lipscomb has positively impacted me in every way," she said. "There's no way that I could pick one person. I'm grateful for them all."

Mersman said her Lipscomb education has prepared her well for life after college, not only through academic training but also through the relationships and experiences that have shaped her personally and professionally.

"I really have enjoyed my experience at Lipscomb," she said. "I believe that it has prepared me well for my life after college, as well as presented me with relationships in my career that will be more than helpful moving forward."

Her time at Lipscomb also deepened her faith.

Mersman said she arrived on campus as a "lukewarm" Christian, unsure how to live out her faith in the opportunities she had been given. Through her years at Lipscomb, she said she gained both a stronger understanding of her faith and the confidence to share it.

"Lipscomb has provided me with a platform I am grateful for every day," she said, "but I am even more grateful for the tools that the university has equipped me with to share my faith on the platform I have been given."

"I believe that Lipscomb has helped me grow into the woman that I hope to be forever," Merman continued, "and I will always be thankful that 17-year-old me chose to attend this university all those years ago."

Up next for Mersman is physician assistant school at Lincoln Memorial University-Knoxville in August.