Brand Among Nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year
Jun 27, 2017 | Volleyball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State volleyball’s Katie Brand is among the select group of nominees for the annual NCAA Woman of the Year award, as announced by the NCAA Tuesday.
Established in 1991 and now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. A record 543 student-athletes were nominated for the 2017 award and Brand is one of 229 nominees from Division I.
Brand, a 6-1 setter from Grand Island, Nebraska, left her mark on the K-State record books in her four seasons as a starter. Following the 2016 season, she became the program’s first three-time All-American and led the Wildcats to their third straight NCAA Tournament appearance. In addition to her All-America honor, Brand was named First Team All-Big 12 for the third straight year and First Team AVCA All-Midwest Region for the second time.
She finished her career second on the all-time assists list in the rally-scoring era (since 2001) with 4,859, second in double-doubles with 68 and became the third Wildcat setter to eclipse 1,000 digs in her career.
Brand set career highs in her senior season in assists per set (11.27), total assists (1,341) and points (194.5). Among Division I setters who average at least 11.0 assists per set, Brand finished in the nation’s top five in total assists, digs, points, kills and blocks.
A fall 2016 graduate from K-State, Brand received a degree in life science (pre-physician assistant) and gerontology with minors in biology and leadership and maintained a 3.649 GPA. She is now enrolled in physician's assistant graduate program at UMKC. Three times she was selected First Team Academic All-Big 12 along with being named First Team CoSIDA Academic All-District twice.
Brand, who was among 10 finalists for the NCAA Senior CLASS Award, has worked with multiple organizations and community events since coming to K-State in 2012. An executive member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) since 2013, she has worked and volunteered with multiple charities including having worked with elementary students through K-State’s Cats in the Classroom program, volunteered at local retirement homes, assisted with the Adopt-a-Family program, participated in the Tipoff for TP program, helped organize Special Olympics events with K-State student-athletes and other local organizations.
Brand was a leader on the court and was voted team captain by her teammates and was selected to the team’s leadership council. She was appointed by her teammates to act as a corresponded between the coaching staff and players, meeting monthly to discuss the progress of the team and how to promote leadership and ways to implement the team’s core values into daily activities.
The school nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, with 229 from Division I, 117 from Division II and 197 from Division III. The nominees competed in 21 different women’s sports, and 122 were multisport athletes during their time in college.
Next, conferences will select up to two conference nominees each from the pool of school nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then 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 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.
The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 22 in Indianapolis.
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