10 Finalists Named for Volleyball Senior CLASS Award

  0 Braden Keith | October 25th, 2018 | ACC, Big Ten, College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, Missouri Valley Conference, News, Pac 12

10 volleyball finalists have been named for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award. The annual honor is given to a player with expiring eligibility in 10 different NCAA Division I sports that is designed to recognize players who stuck out all 4 years in college and have used their platform in athletics to make positive impacts via 4 areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition.

The list of 10 was whittled by a selection committee from the original 30. The winner in each sport will be chosen by a combination of fan votes, media votes, and votes of Division I head coaches.

Among the finalists are 5 players from the Big Ten, including outside hitter Mikaela Foecke of the defending NCAA Champion Nebraska Cornhuskers. She has a 2.649 GPA majoring in animal science and is a 6-time member of the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll. On the court, she is a two-time NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player recipient, which makes her one of only 4 players in NCAA Championship history to accomplish that, and the only to do so in non-consecutive years (2015 and 2017).

Foecke, backed by the largest and most passionate volleyball fanbase in the country, is the early leader in fan voting with 31.6% of the vote. Samantha Seliger-Swenson of Minnesota is 2nd with 18%.

The University of Illinois, a team currently ranked 5th in the country, has two nominees: Ali Bastianelli and Jordyn Poulter.

Full List of Finalists, with links to individual bios.

Name Position School
Tami Alade Middle Blocker Stanford University
Ali Bastianelli Middle Blocker University of Illinois
Lauren Bruns Outside Hitter University of Dayton
Santita Ebangwese Outside Hitter Syracuse University
Mikaela Foecke Outside Hitter University of Nebraska
Taryn Kloth Outside Hitter Creighton University
Haley Libs Outside Hitter Northern Kentucky University
Courtney Pence Libero Illinois State University
Jordyn Poulter Setter University of Illinois
Samantha Seliger-Swenson Setter University of Minnesota

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of VolleyMob.com. Braden's first foray into sports journalism came in 2010, when he launched a swimming website called The Swimmers' Circle. Two years later, he joined SwimSwam.com as a co-founder. Long huge fans of volleyball, when Braden and the SwimSwam partners sought an opportunity to …

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