Florida's Kelly Murphy Tabbed as Candidate for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Thursday, August 25, 2011 | Volleyball
Florida's Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was one of thirty NCAA® women's volleyball student-athletes selected as candidates today for the 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition – celebrating student-athletes who excel both on and off the court. The complete list of candidates follows this release.
Murphy is a three-time All-American (including First Team in 2010), reigning SEC Player of the Year and was named the AVCA National Freshman of the Year in 2008. She has 22 career triple-doubles, a school record, and 60 career double-doubles. She entered the 1,000 kill and 1,000 point clubs in her junior season and was the only player to rank among the SEC's top-10 individually in hitting percentage, kills per set and service aces per set. In her three years in a Gator uniform, Florida has compiled an impressive 81-12 record to go along with two SEC titles.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 2011 candidate class includes nine American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans and eight honorable mention All-Americans from last season. More than half of the 30 have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better. Two of the candidates were recognized by the College Sports Information Directors of America as 2010 Academic All-Americans. Ten of the candidates play for teams ranked in the AVCA preseason top 25 poll. Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award® winner during the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship, which will be played December 15 and 17 in San Antonio.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
Women's Volleyball Candidates
Rachael Adams, Middle Blocker, Texas
Kendall Bateman, Setter, Southern California
Suzy Boulavsky, Right Side/Opposite Hitter, Oklahoma
Michelle Burow, Middle Blocker, Northern Iowa
Lane Carico, Outside Hitter, Miami (Fla.)
Kellie Catanach, Setter, Duke
Lucy Charuk, Middle Blocker, Houston
Kanani Danielson, Outside Hitter, Hawaii
Sophia Dunworth, Middle Blocker/Outside Hitter, Duke
Kaylie Gibson, Libero, North Carolina
Sarah Havel, Middle Blocker, College of Charleston
Kim Hill, Middle Blocker/Opposite Hitter, Pepperdine
Kristin Hoffman, Setter, Northern Illinois
Mary Elizabeth Hooper, Setter, Wichita State
Alex Hunt, Outside Hitter, Michigan
Kayla Jeter, Outside Hitter, Tennessee
Kelsey Jewasko, Libero, Texas-San Antonio
Liz McArthur, Outside Hitter, Utah State
Kelly Murphy, Setter/Right Side, Florida
Tarah Murrey, Outside Hitter, California
Dana Powell, Outside Hitter, Southern Methodist
Darlene Ramdin, Outside/Middle Hitter, St. John's (NY)
Jenilee Rathje, Outside/Middle Blocker, Michigan State
Stacey Schmidt, Right Side/Middle Blocker, UC Santa Barbara
Tanya Schmidt, Middle Blocker, Santa Clara
Betsy Sedlak, Middle Blocker, UC Davis
Kelsea Seymour, Setter, Southern Mississippi
Regina Thomas, Middle Blocker, Mississippi
Hannah Veith, Middle Blocker, Robert Morris
Vineece Verdun, Middle Blocker, Georgia State
ABOUT THE AWARD
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards a senior season can bring. The award is sponsored by Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, and is managed by Premier Sports Management.
With fiscal year 2010 sales of $48.8 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a week at more than 1,725 home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second largest home improvement retailer in the world. Lowe's is an Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA.
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit NCAA.org and NCAA.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.
