Sept. 9, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State women's volleyball senior Kendall Pierce (Eden, N.Y.) has been selected as a candidate for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award, as announced this afternoon. Pierce is one of 30 women's volleyball student-athletes to be named a candidate, along with one other from the Big Ten conference.
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.
Pierce is a standout student in the classroom, having earned numerous academic accolades throughout her collegiate career at Penn State. A health policy and administration major, she's also minoring in communications and sciences. Most recently, she was honored as a 2014-15 Big Ten Distinguished scholar. Pierce also earned back-to-back Academic All-Big Ten selections from 2013-14. This past summer, she completed an internship at a local retirement community, The Village Atrium, where she worked in the recreation department with assisted living individuals.
Pierce's character is highly regarded by both her teammates and coaches as she's a team captain this year, serving as a leader on the team. Pierce is regularly involved in Penn State women's volleyball's "Happy Volley," tournament. Outside of the women's volleyball team, she is active in Penn State's student athlete advisory board (SAAB), having served as the organization's treasurer in 2014. She also serves as co-president of Penn State's "Athletes Take Action," an anti-bullying program for middle school students. As part of her responsibilities as co-president, Pierce and other student-athletes regularly visit local sixth-grade classrooms to talk to students about ways to stop and prevent bullying at school. In addition to her work with Happy Volley, SAAB and Athletes Take Action, Pierce volunteers regularly with the women's volleyball team and the Special Olympics in State College.
Throughout her time in the Blue and White, Pierce has played a role in the backrow and at the service line for the Nittany Lions. Prior to entering her senior year, she has helped Penn State to a combined record of 103-8 in the last three years as well as a 56-4 mark in Big Ten matches. Along with helping the team to consecutive Big Ten tiles in 2012-13, she was also a member of Penn State's 2013-14 back-to-back NCAA national championship teams. In 2014, she saw action in 37 of the team's 39 matches, highlighting the season with a career-high five digs in the NCAA national semifinal victory against top-ranked Stanford.
Halfway through the regular season, the candidate pool will be narrowed down to 10 finalists and placed on a ballot for a nationwide vote involving members of the media, coaches and fans. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December. For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.