NCAA WOTY PROGRAM | CCC RELEASE

Gordon College Volleyball standout student-athlete Valerie Nilan '23 has been selected as the Fighting Scots' nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award which honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. 

The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.

Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. All nominees who compete in a sport that is not sponsored by their school's primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be sent to a separate pool to be considered by a committee. Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who is named during a luncheon at the NCAA Convention.

Representing the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) as their selections will be: Nilan along with Sarah Padellaro (University of New England), Ryleigh Cavanaugh (Roger Williams), Amanda Gilbert (Endicott), and Kaitlin Pettenger (Wentworth). A record-breaking 619 female student-athletes were nominated by NCAA member schools for consideration of the 2023 Woman of the Year award.

OFF THE COURT
Nilan graduated from Gordon this past May with a bachelor of arts in business administration sporting a 3.48 cumulative grade point average and currently works at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston as the marketing and communications administrative coordinator.

In her four years at Gordon, Nilan was named to the Dean's List (3.50–3.74 and no grade below C) seven times and a three time selection on the CCC Academic All-Conference Team. During her senior year, the business administration major also completed an internship with the Gordon College Sports Medicine staff spearheading their social media campaigns. 

When not on the court, the student-athlete was on the worship team, organized and marketed the annual Scotties which is an award show put on and for the our student-athletes, and also led the Fellowship of Christian Athletes worship at multiple Fields of Faith nights. 

ON THE COURT
This past season, the two-time captain led her squad to a CCC Regular Season Title for the first time in over 20 years as well as a Championship appearance for the first time since 2015.

"From the first moment I saw Val on the court at camp, I knew she was going to be a great college player," said head volleyball coach and Senior Woman Administrator Sue Kelly. "Unfortunately, for the first two years of her career, she never played more than three weeks in a row due to injury and personal loss. I've never had a player recover from those to graduate early, lead the team as a two-year captain, lead us to our first regular season Conference championship in 21 years, and be No. 3 in the Nation in hitting percentage. Val lead our team in kills and blocks and was always facing our opponents best defenders."

The dominant middle hitter finished her career with 721 kills in 67 matches, averaging 3.12 kills per set as well as a hitting percentage of .426. During her senior season, Nilan ranked third nationally among all NCAA Division III volleyball players in hitting percentage. 

Nilan put herself on the map her junior year after being named the CCC Player of the Year, All-Conference First Team, as well as an AVCA All-Region Honorable Mention honoree. She followed that up her senior season with another All-Region nod and CCC First Team, before being recognized by the New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA) with All-New England honors.

Kelly continued, "I am incredibly blessed to know her and keep my promise to her Mom to help her launch into what I'm sure will be a life where she continues to glorify God with her many talents."