Pavan Named Honda Award Winner

University of Nebraska junior Sarah Pavan has been chosen as the nation’s top collegiate female volleyball player, winning the 2006-07 Honda Sports Award for volleyball.  The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 31st year.

The Honda Sports Award is given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. 

She was selected to receive the honor over three other nominees: Foluke Akinradewo, a sophomore at Stanford University; Nana Meriwether, a senior at UCLA and Courtney Thompson, a senior at the University of Washington who was last year’s Honda Sports Award winner for volleyball. All four nominees were selected by the AVCA All-American Selection Committee.

Past Husker Volleyball Honda Award  Finalists and Winners

1986-87 - Karen Dahlgren*
1990-91 - Val Novak
1992-93 - Staphanie Thater
1994-95 - Allison Weston
1995-96 - Allison Weston*
1998-99 Fiona Nepo
2000-2001 -*Greichaly Cepero
2001-2002 - Nancy Metcalf
2005-2006 - Melissa Elmer
Christina Houghtelling
2006-2007 - *Sarah Pavan
*-Honda Sports Award Winner

Nebraska's All-time
Honda Award Winners

1984-85 - Denise Eckert (SB)
1986-87 - Karen Dahlgren (VB)
1995-96 - Allison Weston (VB)
1999-2000 - Heather Brink (WGYM)
2000-2001 -Greichaly Cepero (VB)
2006-2007 -Sarah Pavan (VB)

“I was excited when I found that I had won the Honda Sports Award because it is such a prestigious honor, and I am honored to represent collegiate women volleyball players all over the country,” Pavan said.  “I was looking over the list of past winners -- players like Logan Tom, Misty May and Flo Hyman -- these were people that I idolized when I was little and always wished I could be as good as they.  Seeing my name along side theirs is a really big honor.”

A 6-foot-5 junior right-side hitter from Kitchener, Ontario, Pavan led the Huskers to a 33-1 record and the school’s third national title. Behind Pavan’s efforts, Nebraska was ranked No. 1 the entire 2006 season, becoming only the third team in NCAA history to be ranked No. 1 all season. She was named the 2006 NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player, 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year and was named the ESPN The Magazine’s 2006 Academic All-American of the Year with a 4.00 GPA in biochemistry.  A three-time AVCA first-team All-American and two-time Big 12 Player of the Year, Pavan is also a two-time ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-American.

In 2006, Pavan led the Big 12 in kills with an average of 5.10 per game, ranking 10th nationally in that category.  She reached double figures in kills in 33 of 34 matches, and finished with 20 or more kills in 10 matches. She also led her team and the Big 12 with 5.98 points per game and hit .313 for the season.

After college, Pavan plans to play volleyball overseas and then would like to move back and attend medical school and perhaps become a pediatrician.

Pavan is Nebraska’s fourth Honda Sports Award winner, joining past winners Greichaly Cepero (2000-01), Allison Weston (1995-96) and Karen Dahlgren (1986-87). Nebraska has now had a total of six Honda Sports Awards in school history, as softball player Denise Eckert (1984-85) and gymnast Heather Brink (1999-2000) were the other Husker athletes to win this prestigious honor.

Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients for the 2006-07 year include the University of North Carolina’s Heather O’Reilly for soccer; the University of Maryland’s Paula Infante for field hockey and Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego for cross country.  Honda Sports Award winners in basketball, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field will be announced in the coming months. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions and the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at Columbia University in New York in June of 2007.

American Honda Motor Co., Inc. sponsors the Collegiate Women Sports Awards Program.