Baylor volleyball senior outside hitter Katie Staiger was named one of 10 finalists for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award, Premier Sports Management announced Thursday.
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. 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.
As the only finalist from the Big 12, Staiger excels in the classroom as she’s a 12-time Big 12 academic honoree: eight-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection, three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team member and 2013 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team honoree. Staiger finished her bachelor’s degree in sports, sponsorship and sales last fall and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at Baylor.
She has been actively involved in Baylor’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) throughout her student-athlete experience. Staiger helped with numerous fundraisers and service projects for the Central Texas FCA Boys and Girls Club. In addition to serving as a Reading is Fundamental advocate as a Kappa Kappa Gamma member, she served as the Baylor volleyball service coordinator.
Staiger’s offensive explosiveness has transformed the Baylor program. Along with becoming the team’s first All-American (Second Team), she was a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team pick in addition to being named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week eight times in 2016. She was named the AVCA National Player of the Week as well en route to accomplishing the best single-season performance in Baylor history with 6.98 kills and averaging 6.00 kills per set.
Nationwide fan voting begins immediately, and fans are encouraged to vote on www.seniorclassaward.com through December 4. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced at the 2017 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in December.
