Fisher nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Marilee Fisher has made the initital list of contenders for the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year Award, the NCAA recently announced. Fisher, of Mountain View, Calif., graduated this year from Washington University in St. Louis. She is one of 455 student-athletes across all NCAA divisions and sports vying for the award.

Fisher, a four-time All-American at WUSTL, was a starter on the 2009 NCAA Division III National Championship volleyball squad and led her teams to a combined 134-14 career record. She earned 2012 Capital One Second-Team Academic All-America honors as a senior after picking up third-team accolades in 2011.

Greg hargrave

WUSTL volleyball player Marilee Fisher, who graduated this year, is a contender for the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

Fisher is one of three players in school history to receive All-America recognition all four seasons in her career. She was selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America first team for the third-straight season (2010-12) after earning third-team honors in 2009. Fisher was also a four-time AVCA All-Region honoree and received all-University Athletic Association first-team honors for the third-straight season in 2012.

Fisher graduated with a 3.59 grade-point average while majoring in chemistry, in Arts & Sciences. She finished her career with 4,475 assists, which ranks fourth on the university’s all-time list. In 2012, Fisher averaged 9.6 assists per set and was second on the team with 30 service aces and third with 201 digs.

The Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership. 2012 WUSTL graduate Elizabeth Phillips was named the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year, becoming the first student-athlete in school history to earn the accolade and just the third in NCAA Division III history.

Every year, the NCAA encourages each member college and university to honor its top one or two graduating female student-athletes by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. Each conference then selects one or two women from the nominees to represent the conference. Those names are then sent to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 10 honorees in each division.

From among those 30 candidates, the selection committee determines the top three in each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then will vote from among the finalists to determine the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year. The top 30 honorees will be recognized, and the 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced, at an annual ceremony in Indianapolis Oct. 20.