OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – WKU Volleyball setter Nadia Dieudonne has been named a Senior CLASS Award First Team All-American the organization announced Wednesday morning. The Louisville, Ky., native marks the second Hilltopper to earn First Team recognition for the award, joining her coach, Jessica Lucas.
The award, chosen by a nationwide vote of Division I women's volleyball coaches, national volleyball media, and fans, is given annually to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in Division I women's volleyball.
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 platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 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: classroom, community, character, and competition.
Dieudonne owns a 3.38 GPA entering the final semester in her pursuit of a business finance degree on The Hill. She plans to continue her academic journey at WKU for graduate school, pursuing a Master's degree in applied economics. Prior to transferring to WKU, Dieudonne earned a spot on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team as a Xavier representative. In her four semesters at WKU, the Louisville, Kentucky, native has landed on the Dean's List three times and earned a spot on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll.
When asked to describe Dieudonne's character for the nomination, Hudson shared "the setter position is about serving others, it's about wanting their success. That's something that as a transfer kid coming in – a kid fitting with the culture and the kids already in your program – is always in question. She was a kid that because of her selfless nature and interest in making the people around her better, that I think she was accepted from the very beginning because of the nature of her personality."
Dieudonne has carried her servant role into the community as well. She's spent time constructing houses with Habitat for Humanity and tutoring children through the Boys and Girls Club. She's also used her skills to help keep her peers informed through her writing with the WKU school magazine, The Talisman. She kept readers informed on events on campus as well as educational pieces on current events.
When Dieudonne arrived on The Hill in January 2019, she'd never won a collegiate volleyball award. She'd been setting in Xavier's 6-2 system before Travis Hudson brought her into the Hilltopper program where she would facilitate the WKU offense to the second-best efficiency in the country during the 2019 and 2020-21 seasons – her first two at WKU.
Across her senior campaign, Dieudonne earned First Team All-Conference USA recognition, C-USA All-Tournament Team, AVCA All-Region and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American status in addition to her Senior CLASS Award distinction.
Facilitating the WKU offense to the second-best hitting percentage in the country, Dieudonne earned the first All-American distinction of her career as a senior. The Louisville, Ky., native led WKU to a .344 team hitting percentage while averaging 11.68 assists per set – which ranks fourth in the NCAA. Despite the Hilltoppers' sweeping a 75 percent of their matches and playing a shorter schedule, Dieudonne's total assist number of 911 still ranked sixth in the country.
Dieudonne added 130 digs (1.67/set) and 34 blocks (0.44/set) in addition to 35 kills and 12 aces across her second season at WKU after transferring in.
Across her Xavier and WKU careers, Dieudonne has appeared in 110 matches and 379 sets. She's racked up 3,098 assists to accompany 763 digs, 167 kills, 80 blocks and 46 aces.
She was one of three Conference USA representatives on the 30-person Senior CLASS Award candidate list, joining Marshall's Ciara Debell and Nicole Lennon from Rice. Since cutting the list to 10, Dieudonne is both the only C-USA player and only non-Power 5 representative remaining.
Dieudonne joins Rachel Anderson (2018), Lucas (2017), Alyssa Cavanaugh (2017) and Ashley Potts (2013) as Hilltopper Senior CLASS Award candidates. And most recently joined Lucas and Potts to make the cut down to 10 finalists to earn All-American status.
2020-21 Senior CLASS Award Women's Volleyball First Team All-Americans
Gabby Curry, University of Kentucky
Nadia Dieudonne, Western Kentucky University
Kenzie Koerber, University of Utah
Regan Pittman, University of Minnesota
Stephanie Samedy, University of Minnesota
2020-21 Senior CLASS Award Women's Volleyball Second Team All-Americans
Camille Conner, Texas A&M University
Kylie Deberg, University of Missouri
Madison Lilley, University of Kentucky
Chinaza Ndee, University of Pittsburgh
Yossiana Pressley, Baylor University
How to Follow WKU Volleyball: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU. The team is also on Instagram and Facebook.
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