Volleyball | July 25, 2023

AIKEN, S.C. – University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball standout Kari Mercer was named an NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, showing her tremendous talent on the court, in the classroom and in the community.

Mercer, a native of Hilliard, Ohio, helped head coach Glenn Cox's team reach the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time since 2014.

A third-team CSC Academic All-American in 2022, Mercer picked up first-team all-region honors and all-PBC accolades. With her Academic All-America award, she became the first USC Aiken volleyball student-athlete in the program's history to pick up both All-America and Academic All-America accolades in a career.  

Mercer is a two-time PBC Libero of the Year and a three-time all-conference selection. She has also garnered PBC all-academic team honors three times. 

Mercer is among the most decorated liberos in USC Aiken's history and in PBC lore. She is in the top 10 in the PBC for career digs in the modern era and is third on the USC Aiken career chart (1,863). Additionally, she ranks fifth and seventh on the school's single-season digs list and is fourth, fifth and eighth on the single-season digs per set list at USC Aiken.

Mercer has been selected as the USC Aiken Female Student-Athlete of the Year twice (one Co-Female Student-Athlete of the Year) and the USC Aiken Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year once. 

Mercer joins a group of five Peach Belt Conference student-athletes to earn a nomination. Of the five nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year, one will be selected by the Peach Belt Conference senior woman administrators to be the league's representative and move forward in the process. The PBC's selection will be announced in the coming weeks.  

All conference-level nominees are forwarded to the Woman of the Year selection committee. The selection committee will choose the top 10 honorees in each division. From among those 30 honorees, the selection committee will determine the three finalists in each division. Finally, the members of the Committee on Women's Athletics will vote from among the top nine finalists to determine the 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year.

Later this fall, the national Top 30 honorees and nine finalists will be announced. The 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the 2024 NCAA Convention in Phoenix.