INDIANAPOLIS – Incoming beach volleyball graduate transfer, Tamara Merseli has been announced as one of the record 581 nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year. Merseli will be competing for the Warhawks in the spring during the 2019 beach volleyball season.
"Tamara is a great addition to our beach program," said head beach volleyball coach
Russ Friedland. "She's had a lot of success in her indoor career and we are excited to add her depth of knowledge to the program and see what she can do on the beach. Her skills will transfer over well and we are excited to have her on board and get started"
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, established in 1991, honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility in their primary sport and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. Merseli completed her first four years at the University of North Dakota as an indoor volleyball student-athlete.
Merseli joined the 1,000 dig club at North Dakota, despite playing just two seasons at UND. She was just the third UND player to earn that achievement in only two years. Owner of 27 double-doubles in that span, the Belgrade, Serbia native was a two-time Academic All-Big Sky honoree and a three-time winner of the league's player of the week. She was a First Team All-Big Sky player in 2016 and the conference's newcomer of the year, leading UND in kills that season while finishing second last year.
The NCAA Woman of the Year nominees competed in 20 different women's sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 from Division I, 131 from Division II and 199 from Division III.
Conferences will now select up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. 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 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 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.
The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 28 in Indianapolis.
