COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou volleyball sophomore All-American Carly Kan (Honolulu, Hawaii) was named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, as announced by the SEC office on Wednesday (Nov. 25). Kan shares the award with Florida's Holly Pole and Texas A&M's Shelby Sullivan. This is the second major academic award for Kan this year after she earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors earlier this season.
"I am really happy for Carly," head coach Wayne Kreklow said. "She is the standard for what it means to be a student-athlete. She does great in the classroom, practices really hard and competes at a very high level. She is a great kid and approaches every day with a great attitude. It shows in both her success in the classroom and on the floor."
"This is a really neat award for me," Kan said. "There are two sides to being a student-athlete and it is great to be recognized for my contributions in the classroom. I put just as much work into that as I do volleyball. There are so many people here at Mizzou that make the learning experience so great. I wouldn't have earned this award if it weren't for them."
Kan owns a 3.88 grade-point-average in accounting as a premed student. In addition to her success in the classroom, Kan has also been one of the most dynamic players in the nation this season. She leads the nation in combined kills and digs (770) and became the first four-year Tiger since 2008 to open a career with two consecutive seasons of 300-plus kills. With 400 kills this year, she is the first Tiger sophomore to post 400 kills since All-American Lisa Henning did so in 2011. She needs seven kills tonight against Alabama to post more kills than any four-year Tiger in the first two years of a career. Her 18 double-doubles are the most by a Tiger outside hitter since 2006 and are just one shy of the school record for double-doubles in a season (25-point set era).
Kan and the Tigers host Alabama tonight on senior night at 6:30 p.m. at the Hearnes Center. Mizzou will honor seniors Whitney Little (Keller, Texas), Sarah Meister (San Diego, Calif.) and Emily Wilson (Omaha, Neb.) following the match. Admission to the match is free.
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