Kloth Named NCAA Woman Of The Year Nominee

NEW YORK – The BIG EAST announced Creighton volleyball's Taryn Kloth and Marquette basketball's Allazia Blockton as the conference nominees for the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Established in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Kloth finished her undergraduate degree in finance services and her playing career at Creighton in December 2018. During her time with the Bluejays, Kloth has been a part of four BIG EAST regular season and four BIG EAST tournament championships, including an NCAA Elite Eight run in 2016. A regular in the rotation since her freshman year, she was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team twice (2016, 2018), unanimously in 2018. In 2017, she earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors and was the BIG EAST Tournament Most Valuable Player. Kloth was also a member of the All-Tournament Team in 2018. Nationally, Kloth earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Honorable Mention in 2016 and 2018. She was an AVCA All-East Region honorable mention in 2017 and first-team pick in 2016 and 2018.

In the classroom, Kloth has been recognized as a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American and a 2018 CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American as she boasted a cumulative GPA of 3.87. She is a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and received internal recognition from Creighton as a recipient of the Financial Executives International Scholarship as a junior. In addition to her work in the classroom and on the court, Kloth has contributed hours of community service through many different programs both on campus and off through Project Harmony, St. Pius for Children clinic, Hope Center for Kids and more. In January, Kloth began her postgraduate studies in the MBA program at LSU, while also playing on the Tigers Beach Volleyball squad.

Blockton is one of the most decorated women's basketball players in Marquette history owning the program's all-time scoring record with 2,204 career points. She is the only player, male or female, to reach the 2,000-point plateau. Blockton is the all-time leader in field goals made with 852 and is a three-time WBCA All-American. The Milwaukee native was the 2018 BIG EAST Player of the Year and earned the league's sixth-woman award in 2019 after returning from an injury that sidelined her for a portion of the BIG EAST slate.

In March, Blockton was named the BIG EAST Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year. Blockton earned her undergraduate degree in advertising, and minored in biological sciences. She earned BIG EAST All-Academic Team honors in each of her four seasons at Marquette. Blockton earned the Chi Alpha Sigma Award in 2016, 2017 and 2018, which recognizes student-athletes with a GPA of 3.4 or higher. She was the BIG EAST's representative on the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and served on the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Oversight Committee.

Conferences selected up to two nominees each from the pool of school nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose the Top 30 honorees — 10 from each division. The selection committee will determine the top three honorees from each division from the Top 30 and announce the nine finalists in September. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will then choose the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Top 30 honorees will be celebrated and the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named at the annual award ceremony Oct. 20 in Indianapolis.

Players Mentioned

Taryn Kloth

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