UH Hilo volleyball player Bria Beale has accomplished much on and off the court during her time in a Vulcan uniform, and she can now add one more honor to resume.

The recent Communication graduate has been selected as the UH Hilo applicant for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year. Every school in all three divisions of the NCAA can select one nominee. In Bria's case, her nomination moves on to the Pacific West Conference selection committee, where one female from the conference's 11 universities will move on to the national ballot. That winner will be announced some time in August.

The NCAA Woman of the Year  is 31 years strong, honoring the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of outstanding female college athletes.

Beale is a three-time All-Pacific West Conference selection and First Team All-West Region selection, helping turn around the Vulcan volleyball program after transferring from UC Irvine in 2018. Since her arrival, the Vulcans have a record of 58-17 over parts of three seasons and are 48-10 in Pacific West Conference play.

Heading into her final collegiate season in the Fall of 2021, Beale's name is already all over the UH Hilo career record book lists. Her 977 career kills ranks sixth all-time, her 99 service aces is fifth and her 855 digs lists seventh in the Vulcan record book. She is UH HIlo's 2021 Female Athlete of the Year.

In the classroom, for the second time in her Vulcan career, Beale was named to the very select 2020-21 CoSIDA Academic All-District Volleyball Team. The senior was one of just eight players named to the team among nominees from the three NCAA Division II conferences in the west region--The Pacific West Conference, the California Collegiate Athletic Association and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. 

The Eastvale, Calif. native has a 3.90 grade point average. She graduated this past spring with a BA in Communications, a minor in Sociology and an undergraduate certificate in Agriculture. This Fall, she will pursue a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology--Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

Additionally, Beale has been active in campus and community service projects. She created a community support group during the pandemic, arranging virtual meetings for people to support and encourage each other. She and her volleyball teammates have provided meals for the Hawai`i Island Home for Recovery and she has also been a peer educator for the UH Hilo Title IX office. 

"Throughout my experience as a scholar athlete at UH Hilo, I learned invaluable lessons and have been inspired in numerous ways to have a positive impact on my community," Beale said. "Being a student as well as an athlete shapes who I am in many different environments because those two roles intertwined require me to be diligent and have great time management.

"I am honored to be included with so many other nominees and great role models for this award."

The Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year from nine finalists. At an award ceremony Oct. 17 in Indianapolis, the Top 30 honorees will be celebrated, and the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year will be named.

UH Hilo Compliance Office and Senior Woman Administrator Roxanne Levenson nominated Beale.

"Bria is an exceptional student-athlete who has excelled academically and athletically," said Levenson, who has worked in college athletics for over 30 years and has nominated numerous student-athletes for the NCAA Woman of the Year. "She has been very involved on campus and in the community and is a wonderful person as well. Overall, Bria stands out as one of the top student-athletes I have worked with and is very deserving of the honor."