LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – IUP women's volleyball standout
Natalie Cignetti added yet another award to her trophy case, as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) named her the 2017-18 Pete Nevins Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Tuesday afternoon.
The Pete Nevins Scholar-Athletes of the Year are presented to the top student-athletes who have achieved at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average while competing at an outstanding athletic level. To be eligible for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, a student-athlete must have been recognized as a fall, winter or spring PSAC Top 10 award winner in the same academic year.
Cignetti shares the award with male recipient Marcus Martin of Slippery Rock. They were selected by a vote of the league's sports information directors.
The award has been given by the PSAC office every year since 1991 and was renamed in 2007 to honor the legacy of former East Stroudsburg sports information director Pete Nevins, who served at ESU for 33 years. Nevins was one of the most decorated sports information directors in the country and since his passing in 2007 has had multiple awards named in his honor.
Cignetti becomes the fifth overall and first IUP recipient of this honor since women's volleyball student-athlete Laura Hall went back-to-back in 2002 and 2003. Molly Carr (women's basketball and softball) also won the award twice in 1998 and 1999.
Cignetti graduated summa cum laude in May with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average as a natural science major with a concentration in pre-med. She also double minored in chemistry and studio art.
Cignetti put together one of the best seasons in IUP women's volleyball program history, earning honorable mention All-American honors in leading the Crimson Hawks to a PSAC Southwest Division title as a senior. She was a consensus All-Atlantic Region selection, the 2017 PSAC Athlete of the Year, and finished as the league leader in kills (488), kills per set (4.28), points (546.5) and points per set (4.79).
Her points per set and kills per set numbers ranked 14th and 17th, respectively, in Division II.
Cignetti was a PSAC Fall Top 10 selection for the second time and earned second team Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA after her 2017 season.
She was also named the IUP Women's Athlete of the Year, Women's Senior of the Year, and Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the school's annual Crimson & Gray Awards.
Cignetti has been accepted to Wake Forest School of Medicine and will start this month.
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