OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Illinois State volleyball's Stef Jankiewicz is one of 30 NCAA Division I volleyball student-athletes selected as a candidate for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award, the organization announced Monday.
A setter from Farmington Hills, Michigan, Jankiewicz has been exceptional on the court and in the classroom and has served the Bloomington-Normal community in her four years at Illinois State.
Jankiewicz is a two-time AVCA All-North Region Honorable Mention selection and a three-time all-conference performer. She was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year in 2017, before securing the league's Setter of the Year accolade in 2018. Last season, Jankiewicz was named the MVC Championship's Most Valuable Player, helping the Redbirds secure the Valley's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. As a sophomore in 2018, Jankiewicz became the second-fastest setter in program history to reach the top 10 in career assists and currently ranks No. 3 overall in the category with 4,448. She's turned in 55 double-doubles in her career and has finished in the top 25 in all of NCAA Division I women's volleyball in total assists and assists per set in back-to-back seasons.
In 2019, Jankiewicz was one of 10 student-athletes across the league recognized as a State Farm MVC Good Neighbor. Jankiewicz's most notable work in the community is serving as a mentor at Oakdale Elementary School in town. Her main responsibilities with her young student that she mentored were to help defuse situations with high emotions, encourage them to have/feel their feelings, but to also remain respectful to authority/their teacher.
Dedicated to her studies, Jankiewicz has been recognized by the Valley for her success in the classroom. She was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team last season, while earning the Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award and a spot on the MVC Honor Roll. Jankiewicz was featured in the MVC's Scholar-Athlete Spotlight in 2019 and has also made ISU's AFNI Honor Roll in all possible semesters. A criminal justice major, Jankiewicz graduated with her bachelor's degree in December 2020 and is continuing her education at ISU this spring, taking graduate-level courses to help prepare her for graduate school next fall.
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: community, classroom, character and competition.                      Â
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