INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—University of Hawai'i women's indoor volleyball and beach volleyball standout Brooke Van Sickle was announced as one of the Big West Conference's two nominees for the 2021-22 NCAA Woman of the Year award. Van Sickle is now one of 151 conference-level nominees from across all three NCAA divisions vying for the prestigious national award. She and UC San Diego's Ciara Franke (water polo) were selected from BWC member schools' nominees to represent the conference.
 
This year's conference nominees include 53 student-athletes from Division I, 39 from Division II, and 59 from Division III. Of the 151 nominations from conference offices, 17 sports are represented, with 42 student-athletes competing in multiple sports. The average GPA of this year's nominee pool is 3.8.
 
Van Sickle is the first women to ever earn both Big West Player and Pair of the Year honors in indoor volleyball and beach volleyball in the same school year. She earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America honorable mention honors for indoors while earning AVCA All-America first team honors with partner Kaylee Glagau. Van Sickle and Glagau were also named an AVCA Top Flight duo for 2022 and for the second-straight year, Van Sickle was named to the U.S. Beach Collegiate National Team (BCNT).
 
During the fall indoor volleyball season, the senior outside hitter helped lead Hawai'i to its second-straight Big West title and its 39th appearance in the NCAA tournament (UH did not play in 2020 because of COVID-19). The versatile Van Sickle averaged a conference-best 4.47 points per set (points=kills + aces + blocks) and led UH in kills (384), kill/set (3.73), service aces (38), aces/set (0.37), and points (460.5). She was second on the team with 324 digs and third with 63 total blocks.
 
In the spring, Van Sickle, a native of Battle Ground, Wash., helped UH advance to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in her third season with the BeachBows. The duo of Van Sickle and Glagau finished the season at 30-10 (.750) overall, becoming just the sixth UH pair to win 30 matches in a season. Along the way that defeated a dozen top pairs from ranked squads while leading the team to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
Van Sickle graduated in the Spring of 2021 with a Bachelor's degree in economics and is currently pursuing her master's degree in marketing. This past fall, she earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for indoor volleyball.

NCAA member schools nominated 577 women for the national award. Conference offices then reviewed all the nominees from their member schools. The Big West selected Van Sickle as a nominee because of her outstanding achievement in during her collegiate career. Nationally, conference offices submitted a total of 151 nominees for NCAA Woman of the Year. 
 
The NCAA Women of the Year Selection Committee will now choose the top 10 honorees in each of the three divisions in October. From those 30 candidates, the committee will narrow it down to nine finalists and will announce the 2022 Woman of the Year during a ceremony at the NCAA Convention in January.