UNCW volleyball team shares personal battles with breast cancer during awareness month

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and for the UNCW volleyball team, the cause hits close to home as players and their head coach share their personal experiences with breast cancer.

For UNCW volleyball sophomore Lilly Sullivan, breast cancer has been part of her life since childhood.

“My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer May 2013. I was only six years old, now that I’ve gotten older, I’ve really wanted to learn about it and research about it and help other people who are going through that fight,” Sullivan said.

That personal connection extends beyond Sullivan’s family and onto the volleyball court, where head coach Lo Hoyer is navigating her own breast cancer diagnosis. Hoyer discovered a lump in January 2025 and learned she had breast cancer near the end of the team’s regular season.

“ We were actually driving to have dinner with our current freshman class. They were on their official visit. It was senior weekend, it was a lot. I pulled up my MyChart and I was like, “Well, Pete, looks like we got cancer.”

Despite undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, Hoyer remained determined to continue coaching.

“It was really important to me to keep doing what I love every day to keep me going,  It’s just like this is what I have to do. This is the game plan. Every day I gotta show up, I gotta do my job,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer also recognized that her diagnosis could bring up difficult emotions for players whose families have experienced breast cancer.

“We didn’t talk a lot about it in the spring. It was one of those things where it’s like I didn’t know how they were gonna handle it or maybe what trauma it might bring up for them. Sally’s mom’s a survivor. Morgan’s mom’s a survivor. We have two of our coming-in recruits from our future classes whose moms are survivors, and you just don’t know what kind of emotions that’s gonna create for them,” Hoyer said.

As Hoyer continues treatment while leading the Seahawks, her players are making sure she has support both on and off the court.

“It’s definitely not easy for her, so we just try to make it the easiest it can be. We are all family, so we try to be there for her,” Sullivan said.

Hoyer is also using her experience to help others facing similar diagnoses. By sharing her journey on social media, she hopes to provide support and raise awareness about breast cancer.

“I’ve started to share my own journey on Instagram,  I’ve been able to connect with people from high school that just got diagnosed and be able to be a support system for them like other people were for me, and being able to share some educational pieces that, again, people don’t know, and I think that’s really important ’cause it is like you don’t know until you go through it,” Hoyer said.

Hoyer hopes sharing her experience will encourage others to learn more about breast cancer, understand their family history and recognize the importance of early detection.