Kaleigh Kelley Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year Award

July 12, 2018 at 4:12 pm

Spartanburg, S.C. – USC Upstate volleyball’s Kaleigh Kelley has been named a nominee for the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year award. A record 581 female college athletes were nominated by NCAA member schools for the award this year.

Kelley was named to the Atlantic Sun Winners for Life team for her display of excellence on and off the playing surface. She wrapped up her career on the volleyball court by becoming the program’s all-time Division I career digs leader with 1,556, finishing second overall in USC Upstate history. She ranked sixth in the conference in digs and digs per set as the libero and helped the Spartans get back to the conference tournament.

The Waxhaw, N.C. native served as USC Upstate’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president during 2017-18 and as the ASUN SAAC president in 2016-17. She also served as president of USC Upstate’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and volunteered hours with Habitat for Humanity, Miracle League and the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen.

Kelley graduated in May with a degree in computer information systems and is a global technology analyst at Bank of America in Charlotte, N.C.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award, established in 1991, honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The nominees competed in 20 different women’s sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 199 from Division III.

Conferences now will select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division. From the Top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then chooses the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.

The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony on Oct. 28 in Indianapolis, Ind.