Jaali Winters Takes Home an OSCA

OMAHA, Neb. -- Former Creighton Volleyball star Jaali Winters added yet another award to her trophy case when she was honored as the Female Amateur Athlete of the Year at the Omaha Sports Commission Awards (OSCA's) on Thursday night at the Holland Performing Arts Center in downtown Omaha.

Winters beat out a strong field that also included fellow nominees Kaitlyn Hanna (Omaha Westside golf), Jayme Horan (Millard South girls basketball), Megan Carter (Omaha Marian diving) and Priscilla O'Dowd (Midland volleyball).

An outside hitter from Ankeny, Iowa, Winters set more than 90 school-records in her career, including marks for career kills (1,843), attacks (5,093), points (2045.5) matches played (139) and matches started (138). Winters was named BIG EAST Player of the Year and BIG EAST Tournament MVP in 2018, averaging 3.82 kills and 3.06 digs per set. She was a four-time First Team All-BIG EAST pick, as well as a four-time First Team All-East Region and two-time Third Team All-American selection by the AVCA. Winters also became Creighton Volleyball's first two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American, and the eighth in in Creighton history across all sports to be recognized multiple times. She graduated in December and played professionally in Spain this past spring.

Winters was one of two Creighton nominees for an OSCA, as men's basketball's Mitch Ballock was in the running for the MECA Moment of the Year Award, but lost that category to Terence "Bud" Crawford winning four championship belts.

The banquet also saw Angee Henry Nott, Brad Hildebrandt, Andre Woolridge and the 1989 Millard South Boys Basketball Team be inducted into the Omaha Sports Hall of Fame.

Past Omaha Sports Hall of Fame inductees with a connection to Creighton include Dana Altman, the 1996 Creighton Men's Soccer team, Christy Neneman, Connie Yori, Red McManus, the 1991 Creighton Baseball Team, Jack Payne, Mary Higgins, Bill Olson, Bob Warming, Don Leahy, Bruce Rasmussen and Bob Gibson.

Players Mentioned

Jaali Winters

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