INDIANAPOLIS – Recent Gustavus Adolphus College graduate Alyssa Taylor (Trimont, Minn.) has been selected as a candidate for the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Taylor was a standout middle hitter for the Gustie volleyball team, earning AVCA Third Team All-America honors in 2015 as well as MIAC Player-of-the-Year.
Taylor is one of 517 student-athletes nominated by NCAA member schools for the 2016 Woman of the Year award. The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academics, athletics, service, and leadership.
As a team captain in 2015, Taylor played an important role in the Gusties claiming a program record 27 consecutive wins, their first MIAC title since 1986, and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008. Taylor led the team with 312 kills (3.09 per set), a .341 attack percentage, and a 1.14 blocks per set average (115 total). Her .341 attack rate this past season was the third best in program history. The Martin County West product finished her three-year career wearing the Black and Gold with 946 kills, which ranks 15th in program history. She also recorded 326 career blocks, ranking 10th in program history.
Taylor is the daughter of Rodger and Jill Taylor of Trimont, Minn. and embodied what it means to be a student-athlete. She graduated in December with a 3.77 GPA as a major in Health Fitness and Coaching. Taylor’s All-MIAC selection in 2015 allowed her to become just the third Gustie to earn All-Conference three times. In 2014, Taylor was named Academic All-Conference. Taylor was also honored by the Gustavus Sports Information Office as the College’s Female Student-Athlete-of-the-Month for October 2013, October 2014, and October 2015, and received the second most votes on this season’s Gustavus Student-Athlete of the Year ballot. After graduating this past December, Taylor took a position as the Director of Beach Volleyball Operations at the University of South Carolina.
The pool of 517 NCAA Woman of the Year honorees marks the largest in the 26-year history of the award. Of the nominees for the national award, 231 competed in Division I, 117 competed in Division II, and 169 competed in Division III athletics. The nominees also represent 21 different women’s sports, and 127 of the nominees competed in more than one sport in college.
Next, conferences assess their member school nominees and select up to two conference 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 from among those nine to determine the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year.
The top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 16 in Indianapolis.
To view the list of school nominees, click here.