FROM STAFF REPORTS

University of Montevallo volleyball setter Anna Garrison was named the female Peach Belt Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year at a year-end awards banquet in Hilton Head, S.C., the site of the league’s annual meetings.

The female and male scholar-athletes of the year were selected by the PBC’s Faculty Athletics Representatives, who looked at information on each candidate and based their vote on 50% academic accomplishment, 30% athletic achievement and 20% leadership qualities. The scholar-athlete award is the highest individual award presented by the Peach Belt.

Garrison graduated this May with a degree in communication studies and a minor in public relations with a 3.972 GPA. A first team Capitol One Academic All-American – the first UM female student-athlete to ever receive the honor – she also received an Academic Achievement Award from the Division II Athletic Directors Association, was named Academic All-District three times and PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar three times. She was named to the President’s List eight times and received the Senior Elite honor from the communications department, an honor given to the most outstanding senior within each major at UM.

She was equally impressive on the volleyball court. A four-year starter for the Falcons she was named the 2010 PBC Setter of the Year and leaves the school with the second-most assists in UM NCAA history. She spent three of her four years as a part of the Peach Belt Conference (UM joined the league in 2009) and amassed 3,737 assists to sit 10th on the PBC all-time list. She is the only UM player ever to have 3,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs in NCAA play. A two-time PBC All-Conference performer she was named a PBC Specialist of the Week nine times in her career.

In addition to her academic and athletic accomplishments, Garrison served as the vice president of the UM Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, coaches a club team and is a member of Campus Outreach. She becomes the first Montevallo student-athlete to be named a PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.