Pavan wins prestigious Honda Award
Any questions that Sarah Pavan had about volleyball’s Honda Award were answered by scanning the list of past recipients.
She came across two-time winner Logan Tom, Olympic gold medalist Misty May and Flo Hyman, the award’s first recipient in 1976-77.
“These are people I idolized growing up,” said Pavan, this year’s Honda Sports Award winner.
Pavan’s name is added to a prestigious list that includes former Nebraska greats Greichaly Cepero, Allison Weston and Karen Dahlgren.
Those Huskers are recognized on the east wall of the Coliseum, where space was reserved years ago for the program’s Honda Award winners but not AVCA national players of the year.
“(The Honda Award) is what they see as the pinnacle,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “It’s like the Heisman for volleyball.”
The Honda Award, presented annually to the top athlete in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, takes into account not only athletic achievement but also leadership skills, academic excellence and community service. Pavan was selected from balloting among 1,000 NCAA member institutions.
The Honda Award caps a brilliant year for Pavan, the junior right-side hitter from Kitchener, Ontario, who was recognized as the Academic All-American of the Year, the AVCA player of the year and most valuable player of the NCAA Championships.
Other finalists were Stanford’s Foluke Akinradewo, UCLA’s Nana Meriwether and 2005-06 Honda Sports Award recipient Courtney Thompson of Washington.
In the award’s 31-year history, only three volleyball players — Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani in 2005, Long Beach State’s May in 1999 and Hawaii’s Deitre Collins in 1983 — went on to claim the Honda-Broderick Cup as the collegiate woman athlete of the year.
That award will be presented in June.
“With her accomplishments this season, she has a great shot to win the whole thing,” Cook said.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
She came across two-time winner Logan Tom, Olympic gold medalist Misty May and Flo Hyman, the award’s first recipient in 1976-77.
“These are people I idolized growing up,” said Pavan, this year’s Honda Sports Award winner.
Pavan’s name is added to a prestigious list that includes former Nebraska greats Greichaly Cepero, Allison Weston and Karen Dahlgren.
Those Huskers are recognized on the east wall of the Coliseum, where space was reserved years ago for the program’s Honda Award winners but not AVCA national players of the year.
“(The Honda Award) is what they see as the pinnacle,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “It’s like the Heisman for volleyball.”
The Honda Award, presented annually to the top athlete in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, takes into account not only athletic achievement but also leadership skills, academic excellence and community service. Pavan was selected from balloting among 1,000 NCAA member institutions.
The Honda Award caps a brilliant year for Pavan, the junior right-side hitter from Kitchener, Ontario, who was recognized as the Academic All-American of the Year, the AVCA player of the year and most valuable player of the NCAA Championships.
Other finalists were Stanford’s Foluke Akinradewo, UCLA’s Nana Meriwether and 2005-06 Honda Sports Award recipient Courtney Thompson of Washington.
In the award’s 31-year history, only three volleyball players — Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani in 2005, Long Beach State’s May in 1999 and Hawaii’s Deitre Collins in 1983 — went on to claim the Honda-Broderick Cup as the collegiate woman athlete of the year.
That award will be presented in June.
“With her accomplishments this season, she has a great shot to win the whole thing,” Cook said.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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