Moriah Bellissimo Named SoCon Honoree for NCAA Woman of the Year
7/26/2013 12:25:00 PM | Volleyball
INDIANAPOLIS – Georgia Southern volleyball outside hitter Moriah Bellissimo has been named the Southern Conference Honoree for NCAA Woman of the Year, the NCAA announced today.
NCAA schools nominated 430 individuals for the national award, which reflects the growth in opportunity for women to achieve as students, leaders and athletes. A quarter of those honorees received the additional recognition by their conference for outstanding achievement in their collegiate career. An announcement of the Top 30 honorees for NCAA Woman of the Year, 10 from each NCAA division, will be made on NCAA.org in early September.
A first-team CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-American and winner of a SoCon Presidential Scholarship, Bellissimo helped Georgia Southern to a 25-7 overall record and the SoCon South Division title with a 15-1 league mark in 2012. The second-team All-SoCon selection was named SoCon Offensive Player of the Week and SoCon Student-Athlete of the Week last season when she averaged 2.99 digs, 2.84 kills and 0.28 service aces per set.
A four-time member of the SoCon Academic Honor Roll and three-time SoCon All-Academic selection, Bellissimo was the 2012 and 2013 Georgia Southern Female Scholar Athlete of the Year and served as president of the Georgia Southern Student-Athlete Advisory Board last year. She graduated with a 3.95 grade point average in nutrition and food science and is attending Georgia State University to pursue a master's degree in nutrition and become a registered dietitian. She is also continuing her volleyball career as a member of the Panthers' sand volleyball team.
The four-year letterwinner played in 121 matches and collected 783 kills, 1,155 digs, 202 blocks, 185 assists and 87 aces in her career, and she helped lead the Eagles to a 91-41 record and the 2010 SoCon Tournament title. Off the court, Bellissimo was camp huddle leader for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, volunteered at a soup kitchen and helped raise money for Relay for Life.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS.
