80 Volleyball Players Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

  0 Braden Keith | June 27th, 2017 | ACC, ASUN Conference, Big 12, Big Ten, Big West, CCSA, College - Beach, College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, Division II, NCAA D3, News, Pac 12, SEC, WCC

The list of a record-setting 543 nominees for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year Award has been released, and the list is as impressive as ever. Not only is the number of names submitted the most in program history, but the group averaged a 3.69 GPA, and includes 122 multisport athletes.

A total of 80 volleyball players were nominated, with 77 indoor, 5 beach, and 2 who played both, which ranks it 4th among sports on this year’s list:

  • Outdoor Track & Field – 100 nominees
  • Indoor Track & Field – 87 nominees
  • Soccer – 84 nominees
  • Volleyball – 80 nominees
  • Women’s Basketball – 78 nominees

Among the biggest stars on the list are setter Lauren Carlini, who was both an AVCA and VolleyMob First Team All-American last season. The best setter in the country, Carlini has already earned the honor as the AAU National Athlete of the Year for 2016. Kansas libero Cassie Wait, who was a VolleyMob Second Team All-American, and the NCAA’s second-leading scorer and SEC Player of the Year Krystal Rivers were also nominated by their schools.

Other All-Americans we found on the list:

Carly Kan was nominated by Missouri, where she played the 2016 indoor season, and is officially listed as an indoor player. However, after graduation, she transferred to Hawaii to play beach volleyball, where she finished the season 31-5 playing at the #4 and #5 lines for the NCAA-qualifying Wahine. She was one of the few players who competed in last season’s NCAA tournaments both indoors and on the beach.

Another highlight from the list are Sara Bey from State University College at Old Westbury and Emily Stickney from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. They each participated in 5 different sports at the Division 3 level,

In this round, each school was eligible to nominate one female student-athlete who is graduating and has completed their eligibility. Next, each conference will select up to 2 conference nominees from each of the schools’ nominees (in sports where teams compete in a conference outside of their normal conference, there is a special pool created). Then, that list is reduced to 30 athletes – 10 from each of the NCAA’s 3 divisions. The next cut reduces the competition to 10 women from each of the NCAA’s three divisions, meaning that Acker is one of 10 Division I finalists (the full lists have not yet been received).

Next, 9 finalists (3 from each division) will be named finalists before an awards ceremony in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 22nd that will select the NCAA Woman of the Year winner.

To be eligible for the award, an athlete must have earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and completed eligibility in that sport (Acker’s last season was the 2015-2016 season). Each school is able to nominate 1 woman from across their athletics program and the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee chooses the ultimate winner on the basis of academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service, and leadership.

The full list of volleyball nominees is below:

Fayette Adelaja Purdue University Volleyball
Cleaya Antes Notre Dame of Maryland University Volleyball
Phylecia Armstrong Bethune-Cookman University Volleyball
Emma Ballantyne Palm Beach Atlantic University Volleyball
Courtney Banks Newbury College Volleyball
Laura Beach University of Wyoming Volleyball
Abbey Bell Southern Nazarene University Volleyball
Mallory Blauser Angelo State University Volleyball
Katie Brand Kansas State University Volleyball
Lauren Carlini University of Wisconsin, Madison Volleyball
Suraya Chase Chowan University Volleyball
Catherine Conley Lee University Volleyball
Arden Davis University of California, Irvine Volleyball
Bissie DenHartog Fresno Pacific University Volleyball
Elizabeth Dowd Shorter University Volleyball
Aubrey Edie University of Mississippi Volleyball
Margaret Eppright California State University, Fresno Volleyball
Amy Henard University of North Texas Volleyball
Lauren Holt Springfield College Volleyball
Abbe Holtze Colorado College Volleyball
Carlee Hoppe Bethel University (Minnesota) Volleyball
Shaina Hourizadeh Yeshiva University Volleyball
Scottie Ingram Murray State University Volleyball
Carly Kan University of Missouri, Columbia Volleyball
Grace Kauth Cleveland State University Volleyball
Reilly Kelly Mary Baldwin College Volleyball
Jessica Koster University of Dallas Volleyball
Lindsey Larson University of Texas at El Paso Volleyball
Laura Larson University of Arizona Volleyball
Courtney Lawson Eastern New Mexico University Volleyball
Laini Leindecker University at Albany Volleyball
Rachel Liebig The Sage Colleges Volleyball
Karlie Long Meredith College Volleyball
Victoria McIntyre Endicott College Volleyball
Jocelyn Mills Winston-Salem State University Volleyball
Melissa Nava Elmhurst College Volleyball
Kelsey Olion Missouri Western State University Volleyball
Gillian O’Neal Maine Maritime Academy Volleyball
Megan O’Sullivan Fairfield University Volleyball
Sarah Pappas California Lutheran University Volleyball
Elissa Pheneger North Central University Volleyball
Jenna Potts University of Pittsburgh Volleyball
Courtney Reopelle Schreiner University Volleyball
Kelly Reynolds Juniata College Volleyball
Carly Riehl University of Nevada, Las Vegas Volleyball
Krystal Rivers University of Alabama Volleyball
Lauren Schad University of San Diego Volleyball
Markie Schaedig Arkansas State University Volleyball
Layne Self University of Rhode Island Volleyball
Abby Shelton Cedarville University Volleyball
Amanda Sifferlen College of the Holy Cross Volleyball
Lauren Smith Creighton University Volleyball
Karissa Smith Western Connecticut State University Volleyball
Michaela Smith Metropolitan State University of Denver Volleyball
BreeAnn Spangler Indiana State University Volleyball
Katie Stouffer Salisbury University Volleyball
Sarah Szybist Rochester Institute of Technology Volleyball
Jennifer Tait Campbell University Volleyball
Michelle Toro University of Texas at Dallas Volleyball
Teegan Van Gunst Georgia Institute of Technology Volleyball
Cassie Wait University of Kansas Volleyball
Nikki Welch Southwestern University (Texas) Volleyball
Annie Wolfe University of Nebraska at Kearney Volleyball
Allie Yamashiro Manhattan College Volleyball
Margaret Olock Cedar Crest College Swimming & Diving, Volleyball
Tiffany Brooks Shaw University Softball, Volleyball
Morgan Hasty Johnson C. Smith University Softball, Volleyball
Samantha Bost Lebanon Valley College Soccer, Softball
Victoria Amadi Hendrix College Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Volleyball
Meredith Przybocki Saint Peter’s University Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Volleyball
Sara Bey State University College at Old Westbury Cross Country, Lacrosse, Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Volleyball
Kadie Rolfzen University of Nebraska, Lincoln Beach Volleyball, Volleyball
Nikki Taylor University of Hawaii, Manoa Beach Volleyball, Volleyball
Delaney Knudsen Pepperdine University Beach Volleyball
Kobi Pekich Long Beach State University Beach Volleyball
Kamila Tan University of California, Los Angeles Beach Volleyball
Katie Hinkle Crown College (Minnesota) Basketball, Volleyball
Alycia Rackliffe Framingham State University Basketball, Volleyball
Taylor White Virginia Union University Basketball, Volleyball
Emily Stickney South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Basketball, Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Volleyball

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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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