Utah State’s Liz McArthur Named Candidate For Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
Utah State volleyball All-American Liz McArthur has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2011 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award it was announced Thursday.
McArthur, a 6-1 outside hitter from St. George, Utah (Snow Canyon HS) is the only player from the state of Utah and one of just two players from the Western Athletic Conference to be selected forthis award along with Hawaii’s Kanani Danielson.
As a junior, McArthur earned honorable mention All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) after being named first-team all-WAC and the Most Valuable Player of the WAC Tournament. McArthur ended the season ranking 32nd in the nation in points (4.59) and 34th in kills (4.00) per set.
McArthur, who has a 3.76 cumulative GPA infamily, consumer and human development, is also a three-time academic all-WAC honoree and was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District VIII third-team in 2010.
To be eligible for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS 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.
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 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.
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.
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 Dec. 15 and 17 in San Antonio.
For more information on all the candidates, visit www.seniorCLASSaward.com.
Fans can follow USU volleyball at http://twitter.com/USUVolleyball and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.
Volleyball Senior CLASS Award 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, Hawai‘i
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 (N.Y.)
Jenilee Rathje, Outside/MB, Michigan State
Stacey Schmidt, Right Side/MB, 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