INDIANA, Pa. – Senior outside hitter Natalie Cignetti has been named the 2017-18 IUP Women's Athlete of the Year, announced Friday, June 15 by the IUP Athletic Department.
 
The award is part of the Crimson & Gray Awards, which recognize the top athletes, coaches, teams and performances of the IUP Athletics season. The Awards are in their second year of existence.
 
RELATED | Cignetti named PSAC Women's Volleyball Athlete of the Year
RELATED | IUP Athlete of the Year past winners
RELATED | 2017-18 Crimson & Gray Awards

Cignetti wrapped up a successful career in crimson and gray with her best season as a collegian, earning honorable mention All-American honors by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
 
The consensus All-Atlantic Region selection and 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Women's Volleyball Athlete of the Year, Cignetti led the league in kills per set (4.28), total kills (488), points per set (4.79) and total points (546.5). Her points per set and kills per set figures also ranked 14th and 17th in NCAA Division II, respectively.
 
Cignetti's 2017 was one of the best individual seasons in program history, while her All-American honor was the first for IUP women's volleyball since Hall of Famer Laura Hall in 2002.
 
Cignetti led the Crimson Hawks to the PSAC Southwest Division title and their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010. IUP advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic Region Championships and finished the year with a 25-10 overall record.
 
Cignetti wrapped up her IUP career as one of the top players in program history, leaving school ranked second all-time with an average of 3.67 kills per game, fourth with 1,267 total kills, fifth with 119 service aces, and eighth with 1,019 digs.
 
This is the third Crimson & Gray honor for Cignetti this summer, also earning the 2017-18 IUP Women's Scholar-Athlete and Senior of the Year awards. Cignetti excelled in the classroom, as she earned CoSIDA Academic All-America selection and graduated in May with a 4.0 grade point average as a natural science major with a concentration in pre-med.
 
About the Athlete of the Year Award
The IUP Athlete of the Year is given each year to the men's and women's student-athletes, regardless of class eligibility, who had the best individual seasons. Starting in 2013, the award was voted on by fans in a bracket-style format. For the 2013-14 season, both men's and women's Athletes of the Year were named, with fan voting eliminated. That format ran for three years before the expansion and announcement of the Crimson and Gray Awards in 2017. 
 
About the Crimson & Gray Awards
The Crimson & Gray Awards are in their second year of existence and consist of 18 total categories - nine women, nine men - with top performers and performances from the 2017-18 year eligible.
 
Continuing from their inaugural year, awards include: Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Coach of the Year, Performance of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Postseason Performer of the Year, Senior of the Year, Team of the Year and Athlete of the Year.

The IUP Sports Information Office collected award nominations from its coaches, with those nominees voted on by a select panel to narrow each category down to three finalists. That panel votes again to determine the winners.
 
Up next
The 2017-18 IUP Men's Athlete of the Year will be announced at 2:30 p.m. today.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP Athletics on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk.