Sarah Pavan

Sarah Pavan
Personal information
Full name	Sarah Pavan
Nationality	Canada
Born	August 16, 1986 (1986-08-16) (age 25) Kitchener, Ontario
Hometown	Kitchener, Ontario
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb)
Spike	311 cm (122 in)
Block	298 cm (117 in)
Volleyball information
Position	Wing Spiker
Current club	MC Carnaghi Villa Cortese
Number	10
National team
2002 - 2004, 2011-	Canada
Last updated: July 2011

Sarah Lindsey Pavan (born August 16, 1986) is a 6'5" (195 cm) Canadian volleyball player, who was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, USA where she graduated in 2008. In her four years, she was a four-time First Team All-American and led her team to an NCAA title in 2006, an NCAA National runner-up finish in 2005, and two regional final appearances in 2004 and 2007.

Early years

In High School, Sarah was a Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 recruit and the top recruit in the 2004 class. She was a member of the Canadian National Team program. She was named MVP of the 2002 NORCECA Championships, including a 24-kill performance against the U.S. Youth National Team. When Sarah was 16 years old, she made her Senior National Team debut at the 2003 World Grand Prix in Italy. Sarah also starred for the Canadians at the NORCECA Zone Olympic Qualifying Tournament in December 2003, leading Canada to the semifinals. She was dominant at the 2004 NORCECA Continental Championships, leading the tournament with 100 points to pace Canada to a fourth-place finish. Sarah also played for her father, Paul Pavan, at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, leading her team to three provincial championships (2002–04), four regional titles and county titles (2001–04). She was named the 2003 and 2004 Waterloo County MVP. Sarah played club volleyball for the Waterloo Tigers, which were also coached by her father, winning five straight Ontario Volleyball Association championships.

Her favorite movie is "Pretty Woman", favorite book is "Voyage of the Jerle Shannara", favorite food is pizza and other hobbies include playing the piano and playing basketball and football.^[1]

Even though players from Canada aren't usually included in Prepvolleyball.com's annual 100 "Senior Aces" list, Pavan was a special case, because she was recruited by a number of American universities, such as Stanford, Penn State, and Minnesota. She was #1 on the list, confirming she was the consensus top recruit for the Class of 2004.

Career at Nebraska

2004 Freshman Year

In 2004, during her Freshman year at Nebraska, Pavan more than lived up to the expectations of being the top recruit, in fact, she arguably had the best freshman season in school history. She became the first freshman to earn first-team AVCA All-America honors since Logan Tom in 1999 and the first Nebraska Cornhusker to ever be named AVCA National Freshman of the Year. Sarah set single-season freshman marks in kills (481) and kills per game (4.54), becoming only the second freshman in school history to lead NU in kills and kills per game since Eileen Shannon in 1989.

She set the NU postseason record for kills (35) and attacks (90) in a five-game loss to USC in the NCAA Louisville Regional Final, as her 35 kills were the fifth-highest total in school history and the most by a Husker in the rally scoring era.

2005 Sophomore Year

In 2005, Pavan earned AVCA first-team All-America honors for the second year in a row. She led her team to the 2005 NCAA National Championship, but the Huskers fell in 3 to the University of Washington. Pavan was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team for her efforts.

After averaging 3.82 kills, 1.24 blocks, 1.66 digs and 0.31 aces per game, she became the Big 12 Player of the Year. She was ranked among the Big 12 leaders in hitting percentage (.357, seventh), kills (seventh), blocks (1.24, 10th) and points per game (fifth, 4.79). Pavan totaled four double-doubles, including a triple-double of 11 kills, 11 blocks and 10 digs against Pepperdine on Sept. 9, the first triple-double by a Husker outside hitter since Nancy Metcalf in 1999.

In the 2005 NCAA Tournament, Sarah Pavan was selected to the NCAA Omaha Regional All-Tournament Team, as she averaged 4.17 kills and 1.50 blocks per game in wins over No. 14 UCLA and No. 4 Florida. In the NCAA national semifinals against Santa Clara, she had 11 kills on .500 hitting and in the NCAA championship loss against Washington, she had 16 kills on .429 hitting and was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team.

2006 Junior Year

During her junior year, Pavan turned in arguably the most decorated and accomplished season in Nebraska's history. She helped her team to their third NCAA Title and was named AVCA National Player of the Year, Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year, AVCA First Team All-American, Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year, Volleyball Magazine First Team All-American, the Honda Award winner for volleyball, the Honda-Broderick Cup winner, the NCAA Championship match MVP and the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team.

She led the Big 12 in points per game (5.98) and kills (5.10) while hitting .313 on the season. She averaged 1.00 blocks and 1.50 digs per game. Pavan's 586 kills ranked as the second-best total in UNL history. She eclipsed 1,000 career kills in 236 games, the fastest by any Husker in history, bettering the previous best of 238 games by Nancy Metcalf.

In the 2006 NCAA Tournament, she was also named to the NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament team after totaling 35 kills and four aces in two matches, including 20 kills and three aces in the regional final against No. 9 Minnesota. on December 16, she totaled 22 kills on .378 hitting, a season high 13 digs, and three blocks against Stanford in the NCAA championship match.

2007 Senior Year

Pavan was named a first team All-American for the fourth consecutive year, and was a Today's Top VIII winner for the Class of 2007. She was named the Big 12 Volleyball Player of the Year for a conference-record third time. She also earned her second consecutive Volleyball Magazine Player of the Year honor. She becomes the first player in Big 12 history to earn four different individual awards in a career—player of the year (2005–07) and freshman of the year (2004). In league play, she averaged 5.95 points, 4.95 kills and 0.58 service aces while compiling five of her six double-doubles this season. She finished off her Husker career with over 2,000 kills, which she reached in her final match of her career. She became just the fourth player in NCAA history to be named an AVCA First Team All-American all four years of her career.

She helped lead the Huskers to the Elite Eight in NCAA play. In the Sweet Sixteen round, the Huskers rallied from a 0-2 deficit against Michigan State to win the fifth game, only to ultimately fall to Cal in the Elite Eight round. The loss snapped their 2 year Final Four appearance streak.

In June 2008, she was named the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year, and joined former Texas softball player Cat Osterman as the only two-time winners.^[2]

After College

2008

Sarah signed a contract worth $150,000 to play professionally in Conegliano, Italy with Spes Volley Conegliano team (A1 National Championship).

2011

Sarah returned to the national team at the 2011 Pan-American Cup, winning the Best Scorer award,^[3] and finishing 7th with her team.^[4]

Clubs

• Zoppas Industries Conegliano (2008–2010)
• Korea Expressway Zenith (2010–2011)
• MC-Carnaghi Villa Cortese (2011–2012)

Awards

Individuals

• 2011 Pan-American Cup "Best Scorer"
• 2011 NORCECA Championship "Best Scorer"

High School

• 2002 NORCECA Championships Most Valuable Player
• 2003 Waterloo County All Star (basketball)
• 2003 Waterloo County Most Valuable Player
• 2004 Volleyball Magazine "Fab 50" recruit
• 2004 Prepvolleyball.com top "Senior Ace"
• 2004 Waterloo County Most Valuable Player
• 2004 Waterloo County All Star (basketball)
• 2004 First Team Honors (basketball)

College

Four-time AVCA First Team All-American (2004-05-06-07) Four-time AVCA First Team All-Central Region (2004-05-06-07) Four-time First Team All-Big 12 (2004-05-06-07) Four-time NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team (2004-05-06-07) Three-time Big 12 Player of the Year (2005–06-07) Two-time ESPN the Magazine All-sports Academic All-American of the Year (2006–07, 2007–08)[5] Two-time Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year (2007–08) Two-time Volleyball Magazine National Player of the Year (2006–07) Two-time NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (2005–06)

2004 AVCA National Freshman of the Year 2004 AVCA Central Region Freshman of the Year Ameritas Players Challenge and Nebraska Invitational MVP 2004 Big 12 Freshman of the Year 2004 AVCA National Player of the Week (Nov. 29) 2006-07 Honda-Broderick Cup Winner 2006 Honda Award for Volleyball 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year 2006 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American of the Year (4.00 GPA in Biochemistry) 2006 NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player 2007-08 Today's Top VIII Winner 2007 AVCA National Player of the Week (Aug. 27) 2008 First Team Arthur Ashe Jr. Scholar award 2008 University of Nebraska Female Student Athlete of the Year 2008 Nebraska Chancellor Scholar

See also

• Nebraska Cornhuskers Women's Volleyball
• Huskers.com (2007). "Sarah Pavan". http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=14&SPID=23&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=69150&Q_SEASON=2007. Retrieved 2007-11-13. 

References

1. ^ FIVB Profile
2. ^ Pavan named Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year
3. ^ NORCECA (2011-07-09). "Brazilian Sheilla Castro the MVP of the Pan Am Cup". http://www.norceca.org/July%209-2011_Brazilian%20Sheilla%20Castro%20the%20MVP%20of%20the%20Pan%20Am%20Cup.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-09. 
4. ^ Volleyball Canada (2011-07-10). "Canada finishes seventh at Pan Am Cup". http://www.volleyball.ca/content/canada-finishes-seventh-pan-am-cup. Retrieved 2011-07-10. 
5. ^ "ESPN The Magazine Annual Acacemic All-America® of the Year Recipients". CoSIDA. http://cosida.com/media/documents/2010/7/All_Time_AAAmericas_of_the_Year.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-20. 

External links

• Italian League Profile

Awards
Preceded by Christine Sinclair	Honda-Broderick Cup 2007	Succeeded by Candace Parker
Preceded by Cat Osterman	Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year 2007, 2008	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Christina Houghtelling	AVCA National Player of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Foluke Akinradewo
Preceded by Christal Morrison	NCAA National Championship MVP 2006	Succeeded by Megan Hodge
Preceded by Kanoe Kamana'o	AVCA National Freshman of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Nicole Fawcett
Preceded by Jessica Vander Kooi	Big 12 Freshman of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Jordan Larson

Persondata
Name	Pavan, Sarah
Alternative names
Short description	Canadian volleyball player
Date of birth	August 16, 1986
Place of birth	Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Date of death
Place of death