Moon Township, Pa. – Robert Morris University volleyball senior student-athletes Whitney Brown and Emma Granger have been selected as two of 30 nominees for the Senior CLASS Award, as announced by the organization in a press release Monday afternoon.
Brown and Granger are the only two Horizon League student-athletes among the 30 candidates, and join 10 other non-Power 5 student-athletes among the nominees. RMU is one of four schools to produce multiple candidates, alongside Kentucky (3), Minnesota (2), and Utah (2).
RELEASE: Volleyball Candidates Announced for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award
A setter from Pittsburgh, Pa., Brown has started all nine matches in the spring slate, and entered the week ranking fifth in the Horizon League in assists at 8.96 per set. She has posted three double-doubles this season and averaged more than 10 helpers per frame in four games, with a season-high 43 coming on Feb. 1 at UIC.
Brown, who sits seventh all-time at RMU in career assists (2,154), was an All-Northeast Conference (NEC) Second Team selection in 2019 after leading the league in helpers per set (10.06). She was twice named NEC Player of the Week during her junior campaign, and recorded 11 double-doubles. The Avonworth High School product has registered 20 double-doubles and four outings of 50-plus assists over her career.
Last season, Brown became the first junior female student-athlete in athletic department history to garner Academic All-America recognition as she was placed on the second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She also collected NEC Fall Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors and earned her second consecutive CoSIDA Academic All-District II designation. A biology major with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, Brown made three straight NEC Commissioner's Honor Roll lists and is a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Fraternity on campus.
In the community, Brown serves as a nursing assistant at the assisted living facility Concordia of Franklin Park and volunteers as a clinic coach for Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball. She is a volunteer camp counselor at North Star Reach, interacting with children who had undergone transplant surgeries to provide a real summer camp experience, and assisted at the 2020 RMU Day of Service with her teammates.
LINK: Whitney Brown Senior CLASS Award Profile
Granger, a middle blocker from Dalton, Ohio, has not played yet this spring due to injury. She is the first RMU volleyball student-athlete to be named to All-Region and All-America teams, garnering the honors by American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and VolleyballMag.com, respectively, following a stellar 2019 campaign. As a junior, Granger was voted NEC Player of the Year unanimously, and also collected ECAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-NEC First Team, All-ECAC First Team, and NEC All-Tournament Team plaudits. She netted a conference record-tying seven NEC Player of the Week awards and three Defensive Player of the Week honors, and ranked sixth nationally in blocks per set (1.50), ninth in aces per set (0.56), and 23rd in points per set (5.03).
A three-time All-NEC First Team selection and 2017 NEC Rookie of the Year, Granger owns the RMU career record in service aces (174) and occupies the top two and three of the top five slots in single-season aces. She also tops the single-match leaderboards in kills, points, and block assists, and boasts the four-set records in kills and points, and five-set standard in service aces. The middle blocker recorded 160 total blocks in 2019, which is the most for a Colonial in a single season dating back to 1999, and also ranks fourth in career block assists (325) and seventh in total blocks (373).
Granger carries a 3.74 cumulative GPA as a psychology major and is a three-time NEC Academic Honor Roll selection. She serves as the lead tutor for both the athletic study hall program and tutoring center, and is the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President at RMU. Granger is a member of Psi Chi, which is the national fraternity for psychology, and is part of the Colonial Leadership Academy, which exists to provide an opportunity for student-athletes to lay the groundwork for a successful collegiate career and productive future post-graduation.
In the community, Granger interned as a mentor at CommQuest Services at the Bright and Smith Houses, which are inpatient rehabilitation facilities for teenagers recovering from drug addiction and trauma. She has given her time to the Canton COMPASS Rape Crisis center, and helps coach at Elite Sports Ohio in Uniontown by leading their summer camps. As RMU SAAC President, Granger has helped with the organization's food drive and other programs, including the 2020 Day of Service.
LINK: Emma Granger Senior CLASS Award Profile
Brown and Granger join Amanda Graham (2010) and Hannah Veith (2011) as RMU student-athletes who have been nominated for the Senior CLASS Award.
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. 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 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later this month, 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 that best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character, and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2020-21 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in April.
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