ERIE, Pa. -- Volleyball standout Lauren Sampson (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) is Gannon University's nominee for 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Sampson was one of five nominees from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and one of 127 nominees from NCAA Division II. The NCAA announced the nominees Thursday afternoon.

The NCAA Woman of the Year award recognizes female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics, and in academics throughout their college careers.

A total of 577 women were nominated in Division I, Division II, and Division III. Those nominees will be narrowed to the Top 30 honorees, 10 from each division. Those Top 10 will then be narrowed to three finalists in each division before the Woman of the Year is announced at the 2023 NCAA Convention in January in San Antonio.

Sampson, a native of Hilliard, Ohio, was named Gannon Female Student-Athlete of the Year in April.

She starred on the Golden Knights' volleyball team, which finished 32-7, reached the Elite Eight for the third time in team history and advanced to the Final Four for the second time.
 
Sampson was accorded AVCA All-American Honorable Mention for the second time as a senior and was an All-Atlantic Region First Team selection by the AVCA and D2CCA. She was named the PSAC West Volleyball Athlete of the Year and was an All-PSAC West First Team selection. She was a three-time selection to the All-Atlantic Region and All-PSAC West. She was the 2018 PSAC Freshman of the Year despite injuring her knee as a freshman and playing through pain for much of her career.

She finished her career with 1,286 career kills, which ranks 10th in program history. As a senior team captain, she totaled a team-leading 420 kills and ranked 26th in the nation in kills per set. 

Sampson also maintained a 3.916 grade-point average as a Biology major. She was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American Third Team, becoming just the third Gannon volleyball athlete to earn All-America and Academic All-America status in the same season. Sampson was also named to the PSAC Fall Top 10 and was a four-time PSAC Scholar Athlete.
 
She graduated summa cum laude and hopes to become a physician assistant and possibly work in sports medicine. Sampson was a three-year member of Beta Beta Beta, a biological honors society that does community service, research projects, and more.