Senior middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer (St. Paul, Minn.) was named to a list of 30 preseason nominees for the inaugural 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for volleyball.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

The candidate class will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. 

All four of the nominees who are returning First-Team All-Americans are from the Big Ten. That list includes Gibbemeyer, Illinois outside hitter Laura DeBruler, Penn State middle blocker Arielle Wilson and Michigan setter Lexi Zimmerman. 

The following is a list of nominees for the award.

2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award 
Volleyball Candidates
Name, Position, School

Sydney Anderson, Setter, Nebraska

Jennifer Berwanger, Outside Hitter, Southern Illinois

Ellie Blankenship, Libero, Northern Iowa

Nina Camaioni, Outside Hitter, Loyola (Maryland)

Laura DeBruler, Outside Hitter, Illinois

Allyson Doyle, Outside Hitter, Western Michigan

Francie Ekwerekwu, Middle Blocker, Oklahoma

Nikki Fowler, Outside/Right Side Hitter, Tennessee

Lauren Gibbemeyer, Middle Blocker, Minnesota

Amanda Graham, Middle Blocker, Robert Morris

Jenna Hagglund, Setter, Washington

Christy Hudson, Right Side/Middle Blocker, TCU

JennaRae Jester, Middle Blocker, Wyoming

Alex Kelly, Middle Blocker, Lipscomb

Chelsy Kimes, Outside Hitter, Coastal Carolina

Alix Klineman, Outside Hitter, Stanford

Lauren Krupsky, Outside Hitter, Central Michigan

Tracey Lam, Libero, Rice

Carli Lloyd, Setter, California

Jamie Mellies, Setter, Seattle

Jade Michaelsen, Setter, New Mexico

Sabel Moffett, Middle Blocker, Northwestern

Stephanie Niemer, Outside Hitter, Cincinnati

Becky Novacek, Middle Blocker, Dayton

Lauren Rapp, Right Side/Middle Blocker, Kentucky

Chloe Smith, Right Side Hitter, Central Arkansas

Mary Ashley Tippins, Setter, Georgia Tech

Dana Vargas, Setter, UC Santa Barbara

Arielle Wilson, Middle Hitter, Penn State

Lexi Zimmerman, Setter, Michigan