Moon Township, Pa. - Senior Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) of the Robert Morris University volleyball team was honored by the Northeast Conference Thursday for her performance on the court and in the classroom, as she was named the 2010 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the sport of volleyball.
It marks the second straight honor for Graham, as she was also named volleyball's 2009 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Thanks to the accolade, Graham is the first female student-athlete to earn the honor from the NEC on multiple occasions and third overall, joining former men's track & field student-athletes Jim Baughman and Jeff Witmyer.
Baughman was named the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in men's indoor track & field in 1999, followed by outdoor honors in 2000, while Witmyer was tabbed the 2007 NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in indoor track & field and took home both the indoor and outdoor honor in 2008.
To be eligible for the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in a sport, a student-athlete must have earned a minimum of 60 semester hours, maintained a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.20 and participated with distinction as a member of a varsity team. A nuclear medicine technology major, Graham owns a cumulative grade point average of 3.98.
In 2010 Graham led the Colonials to an overall record of 17-18, including a 13-3 mark in the NEC. She led Robert Morris in kills (312) and service aces (31) while posting an attack percentage of .329.
Graham finished with 125 block assists in 2010, a new RMU single-season school record, while her 151 total blocks finished second for Robert Morris and would have established a new single-season school record had the total not been eclipsed by teammate Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington), who finished with 154.
A 2010 All-NEC First Team selection, Graham became just the second player in program history to earn All-NEC honors each of her four years at Robert Morris. She finished her career at RMU with the school record for career block assists (358) while ranking second all-time in attack percentage (.331) and total blocks (438) and fifth in kills (1,107) and service aces (131).
Named to the 2010 Capital One District II Academic All-America First Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the third time she garnered the honor, Graham became the first female student-athlete in school history to earn Capital One Academic All-America accolades and fifth overall when she was named to the second team for volleyball.
In addition to the honor for Graham, a total of 108 student-athletes from Robert Morris covering seven fall sports, including 46 female student-athletes, were named to the 2010 NEC Fall Academic Honor Roll. To be eligible for the honor roll, student-athletes must have posted a cumulative GPA of 3.20 and be an active member of an officially recognized varsity team. Freshman are eligible for the honor roll.
In addition, a total of 33 student-athletes from RMU named to the 2010 NEC Fall Commissioner's Honor Roll. To garner the honor, a student-athlete must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.75, and freshman are eligible for the honor roll.
To view the entire list of Robert Morris student-athletes that competed in a fall sport named to either the 2010 NEC Fall Academic Honor Roll or the 2010 NEC Fall Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll, please download the PDF or click on the respective link associated with this article.
