Marquette's Barber, Creighton's Cole Named Senior CLASS Award Candidates
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Two of the 30 volleyball candidates for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award hail from BIG EAST schools as Marquette's Allie Barber and Creighton's Madelyn Cole were recognized on Wednesday. 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. The complete list of candidates follows this release.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the 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.
Barber, BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, currently leads the tenth-ranked Golden Eagles with 4.65 kills per set, which ranks 10
th in the NCAA and ranks sixth among those Division I players that average over 4.65 kills and hit above a .285 hitting percentage. The senior outside hitter was named an AVCA Second-Team All-American in 2018 as well as the AVCA East-Coast Region Player of the Year. Barber is a three-time All-BIG EAST First Team member.
Cole leads the BIG EAST with 10.45 assists per set this season and ranks second on the Bluejay team in aces (0.27), digs (2.84) and blocks (0.66) per set. Last season she was a First Team All-BIG EAST and First Team All-East Region selection, as well as an Honorable Mention All-American by the AVCA. She led the BIG EAST in assists per set (10.92) and was second in aces per set (0.43) a year ago while helping CU to a fifth straight BIG EAST title.
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 candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
Volleyball Candidates
Frances Arnautou, Yale
Allie Barber, Marquette
Madelyn Cole, Creighton
Lee Ann Cunningham, Rice
Madison Duello, Wisconsin
Leah Edmond, Kentucky
Ann Ernst, Loyola Maryland
Audriana Fitzmorris, Stanford
Yumi Garcia, Charlotte
Jenna Gray, Stanford
Madison Green, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Tessa Grubbs, Tennessee
Hollann Hans, Texas A&M
Cassie Haut, Eastern Michigan
Morgan Hentz, Stanford
Sigourney Kame, Florida Atlantic
Madelyn Kaprelyan, Central Connecticut State
Mary Lake, Brigham Young
Khalia Lanier, USC
Laura Masciullo, Hofstra
Blake Mohler, Purdue
Grace Morgan, Rice
Kathryn Plummer, Stanford
Anne Rasmussen, South Dakota
Amber Seaman, Ball State
Mikayla Shields, South Carolina
Shelly Stafford, Baylor
Emily Stroup, Mississippi
Micaya White, Texas
Stephanie Williams, Pittsburgh