Recent graduate Savannah Powers has been nominated by the University of Mary Washington for the 2019-20 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Powers, the first two-time All-America selection in the volleyball program's history, has already been named as the school's Fall Female Athlete of te Year as well as the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Powers, an outside hitter, led the Eagles attack in 2019 to the tune of 3.13 kills per set while hitting .248 with 1.25 digs per set. She closed her career with a school-record 1,347 kills, 707 digs, 199 blocks, and 150 aces.
Her list of accolades is extensive. In addition to becoming the first two-time All-America pick in school history, she gained first team all-region honors, was named as the first-ever CAC Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and also was named to all-state and all-conference squads.
The 2019 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President, Savannah was also just the second player in program history to be named all-conference for four years.
Academically, Powers posted a 3.82 grade-point average, and was named as a College of Business Outstanding Student. She was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma and Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Societies, and was named to the dean's list or president's list every semester. A four-time member of the CAC All-Academic Team and four year-member of the UMW Athletic Honor Roll, she was a College of Business Dean's Advisory Board member as well.
"Savannah is truly a one of a kind person and volleyball player that has not only proven to be a great leader on the court but off the court as well", said her head coach, Alex Hinsey. "She will very likely go down as the best volleyball player in program history and is near the top of the list for many career and individual season records for the Mary Washington volleyball program. Off the court, Savannah attended the NCAA convention as a representative from the Capital Athletic Conference. She is very actively involved in many of the Athletics Department initiatives and is successful in everything that she does."
Rooted in Title IX, the NCAA Woman of the Year Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.
The nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, including 259 nominees from Division I, 126 from Division II and 220 from Division III. Nominees competed in 24 sports, with multisport student-athletes accounting for 128 of the nominees.
Member schools are encouraged to honor their top graduating female college athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year Award. Schools can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete. NCAA member schools have nominated a record 605 female college athletes for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Conference offices will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be considered by a selection committee. 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 Woman of the Year selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division and announce nine finalists. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then will choose the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year, who will be named this fall.