INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Seven Peach Belt Conference athletes are among the 535 nominated by schools and conferences for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year award. The award was established in 1991 to recognize graduating female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

The nominees competed in 24 sports across all three NCAA divisions, including 251 nominees from Division I, 107 from Division II and 177 from Division III. Multisport student-athletes account for 141 of the nominees.

The NCAA encourages member schools to honor their top graduating female college athletes by nominating them for the Woman of the Year award. Schools can recognize two nominees if at least one is a woman of color or international student-athlete.

Next, conferences will select up to two nominees each from their pool of member school nominees. All nominees who compete in a sport not sponsored by their school’s primary conference, as well as associate conference nominees and independent nominees, will be considered by a selection committee. Then, the Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will choose 10 women from each division to make up the Top 30.

The selection committee will determine the top three honorees in each division from the Top 30, and the nine finalists will be announced this fall. From those nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will choose the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year later this fall.

The PBC Woman of the Year Nominees are:

Ukeyvia Beckwith – Embry Riddle

Beckwith (Orlando, Fla.) is one of the most decorated ERAU student-athletes in the Eagles' NCAA II era. A three-time Peach Belt Conference champion in the high jump and the league's record holder in that event, Beckwith's collegiate resume includes USTFCCCA Indoor All-America honors in the 800m, as well as multiple USTFCCCA All-Region honors in the high jump, 400m, 800m, 4x400m relay and the distance medley relay. Beckwith was the inaugural recipient of ERAU's Howard Walls Jr. Track & Field Memorial Scholarship and was also awarded an Eagles of Excellence scholarship in 2019-20. She is a senior with a 3.345 GPA in Aerospace and Occupational Safety.

Libby Bochniak, Georgia College

The 2020-21 PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Bochniak was chosen as one of the valedictorians for her senior class, graduating with a 4.0 GPA in biology and a minor in chemistry. She will go on to attend medical school at Lincoln Memorial University. In 2019, she was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American, the first in GC program history and only the eighth PBC volleyball player to earn that distinction. From Marietta, Ga., she became the first player in volleyball program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. A two-time All-Peach Belt Conference (PBC) selection she was also named twice to the PBC All-Tournament team. In the spring of 2021, she was fourth in the PBC in kills per set and eighth in digs per set and was the only player in the league to be ranked in the top 10 in both categories. She was twice named a PBC Player of the Week and finishes her playing career ranked 14th in all-time kills for the conference with 1,108.

Sarah-Lisa Dubel, Flagler

Dubel, a Braunfels, Germany native, has been a model student-athlete for four years at Flagler. She was a three-time academic all-conference honoree and PBC Presidential Honor Roll Scholar. She posted a 3.83 GPA and was a psychology major. She also graduated this past spring. Dubel boasted a 0.80 career goals-against average and had 274 saves, an 83.5 save percentage, and had 27 shutouts. She holds career records in saves and shutouts at Flagler. Dubel was a four-time all-conference selection, including earning first team honors three times. She was the PBC Co-Player of the Year this past spring and was the conference tournament most valuable player for the second year in a row.    

Kai Jeffries, Georgia College

Jeffries graduated from Georgia College with a 3.87 GPA and a major in philosophy. She was named to her third PBC Team of Academic Distinction this past spring and named a PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar for the third time. She was also named a D2ADA Academic Achievement Award recipient twice. On the pitch, the Lawrenceville, Ga., native was named a PBC second-team All-Conference selection in 2019 and a United Soccer Coaches All-Region selection in 2018. She was also named to the PBC All-Tournament team in 2018. In the spring of 2021, she started in seven of GC’s nine games with eight appearances, completing her four-year career with 62 games played and 59 starts with three career assists.

Taylor Malasek, North Georgia

Malasek, a senior from Peachtree City, Georgia, is a 2019 All-American and has been named All-Conference three times in her career. Additionally, she was named to the PBC Team of Academic Distinction three times so far in her career and has multiple academic awards at the regional and national level including a United Soccer Coaches Player of Distinction honor and three times a PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar. This season she started all 10 games for the Nighthawks and was third on the team in goals and points.

Haylie Shope, Young Harris

An infielder and pitcher on the YHC softball team, Shope had a 3.87 GPA with a major in education. From Muurphy, N.C., she batted .323 in 46 starts with six doubles, 12 home runs, 42 RBI, .654 slugging percentage and .463 on-base percentage. Shope also went 4-0 in the circle with one save. In eight appearances (one start), she struck out 20 in 25.2 innings. A first-team All-Conference selection, she was fifth in the PBC in RBIs and sixth in home runs and was named a PBC Player of the Week. She finished her career ranked among the YHC top 10 in 14 different categories, including second in home runs (35), third in RBIs (138) and fourth in total bases (294) and walks (85). Shope twice received the D2ADA Academic Achievement Award, was twice named to the PBC Team of Academic Distinction and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.

April Tankersley, UNC Pembroke

A middle blocker on the UNCP volleyball team, was named to both the PBC Team of Academic Distinction and the PBC Presidential Honor Roll in her four-year career. From Fort Mill, S.C., she finished her career with 362 total kills and 173 total blocks. In the spring of 2021, she was fourth in the PBC in blocks per set while finishing fourth on the team in kills.