TicketsAug. 26, 2010
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas - University of Cincinnati senior outside hitter Stephanie Niemer (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry) was one of 30 NCAA women's volleyball student-athletes selected as candidates for the first-ever Lowe's Senior CLASS Award® in volleyball. The award is sponsored by Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, and is managed by Premier Sports Management.
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.
Niemer recently was named the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year after garnering first-team all-conference honors, American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Northeast Region, and AVCA Honorable-Mention All-America plaudits a season ago. The Erlanger, Ky., native led the Bearcats in kills in 2009 and ranked among BIG EAST Conference leaders in kills, aces, and points per set.
The 2010 candidate class includes eight American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Americans from last season. Twenty of the 30 have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better, including Niemer, who owns a 3.8 GPA while majoring in marketing.
Lowe's will announce the Senior CLASS Award® winners during the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
The candidate class 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.
"I'm honored to be named as one of the candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award," said Niemer. "My teammates, coaches, and the support staff at Cincinnati have been truly instrumental in helping me on and off the floor."
Niemer and the Bearcats open the 2010 season on Friday, Aug. 27, at 8 p.m. ET against Northern Colorado in the opening match of the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, Calif. UC will play four matches in four days while in California, beginning with the Bears on Aug. 27, before playing Cal State Northridge and San Diego State on Saturday, Aug. 28. UC concludes its trip when it plays at UC Santa Barbara on Monday, Aug. 30.
Below is the list of the 30 candidates for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award:
Name, Position, School
Sydney Anderson, Setter, Nebraska
Jennifer Berwanger, Outside Hitter, Southern Illinois
Ellie Blankenship, Libero, Northern Iowa
Nina Camaioni, Outside Hitter, Loyola (Maryland)
Laura DeBruler, Outside Hitter, Illinois
Allyson Doyle, Outside Hitter, Western Michigan
Francie Ekwerekwu, Middle Blocker, Oklahoma
Nikki Fowler, Outside/Right Side Hitter, Tennessee
Lauren Gibbemeyer, Middle Blocker, Minnesota
Amanda Graham, Middle Blocker, Robert Morris
Jenna Hagglund, Setter, Washington
Christy Hudson, Right Side/Middle Blocker, TCU
JennaRae Jester, Middle Blocker, Wyoming
Alex Kelly, Middle Blocker, Lipscomb
Chelsy Kimes, Outside Hitter, Coastal Carolina
Alix Klineman, Outside Hitter, Stanford
Lauren Krupsky, Outside Hitter, Central Michigan
Tracey Lam, Libero, Rice
Carli Lloyd, Setter, California
Jamie Mellies, Setter, Seattle
Jade Michaelsen, Setter, New Mexico
Sabel Moffett, Middle Blocker, Northwestern
Stephanie Niemer, Outside Hitter, Cincinnati
Becky Novacek, Middle Blocker, Dayton
Lauren Rapp, Right Side/Middle Blocker, Kentucky
Chloe Smith, Right Side Hitter, Central Arkansas
Mary Ashley Tippins, Setter, Georgia Tech
Dana Vargas, Setter, UC Santa Barbara
Arielle Wilson, Middle Hitter, Penn State
Lexi Zimmerman, Setter, Michigan
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. Sportscaster Dick Enberg, honorary chair of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, first conceived the idea of an award for seniors in 2001 in response to the growing trend of men's basketball players leaving school early for the NBA. The award program has expanded from men's and women's basketball to include 10 NCAA Division I sports. The award is sponsored by Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, and is managed by Premier Sports Management.
ABOUT LOWE'S
With fiscal year 2009 sales of $47.2 billion, Lowe's Companies , Inc. is a FORTUNE ® 50 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a week at more than 1,700 home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, NC, Lowe's is the second largest home improvement retailer in the world.
Lowe's is an Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA.
ABOUT 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.