Senior CLASS CandidateSenior CLASS Candidate
Karen Ambrose Hickey
Women's Volleyball

Senior CLASS Candidate

STANFORD, Calif. - Redshirt senior opposite Merete Lutz was one of 30 NCAA women's volleyball student-athletes selected as a candidate for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award® it was announced Tuesday.
 
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors 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 Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
 
The candidates 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 who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
 
Stanford has done well recently as far as the Senior CLASS Award is concerned. Inky Ajanaku and Jordan Burgess were named Senior CLASS Award First Team All-Americans in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Lutz graduated in the spring with a degree in human biology, concentrating in environmental change and the ecology of infectious disease. She is currently pursing a master;s in epidemiology and clinical research from the Department of Health Research and Policy in the Stanford School of medicine. A three-time Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention selection, Lutz would like to continue her volleyball career after Stanford before entering the workforce in an international health organization.

"Merete is the epitome of a Stanford student-athlete as she excels both on the court and in the classroom," said head coach Kevin Hambly. "She has grown as a leader, teammate and person during her time with the program. She is a great representation of Stanford volleyball and serves as a role model for others."

Lutz has served on Stanford's SAAC Special Projects Committee, attending all community service events. She has also helped the women's volleyball program win the athletic department's community service award three times in the past four years. She and her teammates have participated in clinics for middle school kids, talking about college, teaching volleyball and motivating students to stay fit and succeed in school.

Lutz is a three-time AVCA All-American and a three-time AVCA All-Pacific North Region selection. The Houston, Texas native has also earned Volleyball Magazine All-America honors twice. A three-time All-Pac-12 Conference performer, she was a member of the All-Pac-12 Freshman Team in 2014.

This season, Lutz was named Preseason All-Pac-12 Conference for the third time in her career. She is eighth in the conference with a .342 hitting percentage. Against Arizona State on Sept. 27, Lutz became the 18th Cardinal player since 1986 to register 1,000 career kills. She has also broken into the top 10 in career blocks at Stanford with 429.