Hope College’s Jenna Grasmeyer is one of 480 nominees for the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year award.
Now in its 25th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes across Divisions I, II and III who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves throughout their college careers in academics, athletics, service and leadership.
Grasmeyer is a former volleyball standout, national champion and 2015 Hope graduate. Earlier this month, she was named the winner of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s 2015 Sheila Wallace Kovalchik Scholar-Athlete Award given to its top female student-athlete.
The 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year winner will be announced at the annual award ceremony October 18 in Indianapolis.
Of this year’s NCAA Women of the Year nominees, 180 competed in Division III athletics, 207 competed in Division I and 93 competed in Division II.
The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female student-athletes each year by submitting their names for consideration for the Woman of the Year award. Then, conferences assess each nominee’s eligibility and select up to two conference nominees. All conference nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee, which chooses the top 30 honorees – 10 from each division.
From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three nominees from each division and announces the top nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics then chooses from among those nine to determine the 2015 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Grasmeyer was a standout performer in volleyball throughout her four years at Hope College.
An outside hitter for the Flying Dutch, Grasmeyer was a four-time All-MIAA first team selection and was selected a first team All-American three times by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She led Hope to a 58-6 record in MIAA play and a 120-17 overall mark during her four years. She served as team captain in her junior and senior years. Grasmeyer capped off her career last fall by leading the Flying Dutch to their first NCAA Division III national championship, earning Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament.
Grasmeyer set numerous school records during her career, including kills (1,839), attack attempts (4,641), service attempts (1,666) and matches played (137). She also tied a school single-match record for kills with 28 and set the single-match record for attack attempts with 75.
An exercise science major at Hope, Grasmeyer graduated in May with a 3.79 grade point average. She was a three-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, and over the winter was named to the Capital One Academic All-America second team in volleyball by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Grasmeyer was heavily involved in campus and community activities during her career at Hope.
As a member of Hope's Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), she planned and coordinated a campus and athlete-wide food drive that contributed 2,000 items to a local food bank. She also served as a mentor to a young child struggling with obesity, helping her with exercises and healthy food choices, worked individually with a special needs child in a therapy pool and volunteered to help third-graders with their reading skills. She also volunteered at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and at Harbor House in Jenison.
Jenna Grasmeyer is the daughter of Mark and Karla Grasmeyer. She is a graduate of Hudsonville Unity Christian High School.