To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character, and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Mellies enters her senior season as the second-leading setter in Seattle University volleyball history, collecting 2,875 assists over the first three years of her collegiate career. After being named Co-Freshman of the Year in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference during Seattle U's final season at the Division II level in 2007, she has played a major role in the Redhawks' transition to Division I status, becoming the fourth player in school history to collect over 1,000 assists in a season with 1,023 helpers in 2008. Last year, Mellies earned first team All-Independent honors after finishing the season with 864 assists, 205 digs, 19 service aces, and 59 total blocks.
In the classroom, Mellies has a cumulative 3.921 grade point average while majoring in civil engineering with a mathematics minor. Out of nine quarters, she has achieved a 4.0 GPA in four of them and made the President's List (3.9+ GPA) in seven of the nine. Mellies made the Dean's List in the other two quarters. She was an Academic All-Independent selection in 2009, posting the highest GPA among all honorees.
Mellies has volunteered at the Rotary Boys and Girls Club as well as the Community Lunch in the Capitol Hill section of Seattle. She is a student-athlete peer mentor and has participated in a nine-week student-athlete leadership seminar. Mellies is one of two student-athletes on the Seattle U Athletic Advisory Board. She is a leader in the Seattle U chapter of The Society of Women Engineers and a member of the Seattle U Steel Bridge Club.
During her freshman year, Mellies battled through a health condition that caused her to be anemic and unable to eat a normal diet or absorb nutrients. She never complained, telling her coach that she needed to set an example for her teammates about working hard despite the circumstances. As a freshman, Mellies agreed to be one of six Seattle U student-athletes featured as part of the fall 2008 alumni magazine story on the school's transition to Division I.
Mellies is joined on the candidate list by top nationally-known players such as Arielle Wilson from defending national champion Penn State, Lauren Gibbemeyer of 2009 Final Four participant Minnesota, and Alix Klineman of defending Pac-10 champion Stanford. Both Division I schools in Seattle are represented, as Washington setter Jenna Hagglund joins Mellies on the candidate list. On Sept. 18, during the Gonzaga Tournament, Mellies will face another candidate, as Wyoming's JennaRae Jester made the preseason cut.
"We are excited to add women's volleyball to the award program and are encouraged by the strong group of women who make up our first class of candidates," said Tom Lamb, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing. "These student-athletes are outstanding leaders and have contributed many hours to make their universities and communities better places."
The candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. Lowe's, an official corporate partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award® winners during the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
Mellies and the Seattle University volleyball team will begin the 2010 season by co-hosting the Invitational at Seattle over the weekend. Seattle U's first match will be Friday, Aug. 27, against Portland State beginning at 7 p.m. at the Connolly Center. The Redhawks will continue competition Saturday, Aug. 28, with contests against Eastern Washington at 11 a.m. and Mercer University at 7 p.m., also at the Connolly Center. Live stats for all matches will be available on GoSeattleU.com.