Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) former women’s tennis player is awarded one of the top 30 NCAA Woman of the Year award on Oct. 22, 2017 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Australia born HPU senior Nicole Hoynaski represented one of the top 10 woman in Division II of the NCAA. Honorees were chosen by having demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
Out of the 543 nominees from all three NCAA divisions, a pleased Hoynaski was one of the nominees and stated “I felt extremely honored and excited when I was nominated. I was one of two tennis athletes and one of 10 in Division II and it is just an extremely special award.”
The 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year takes place at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis, IN. photo: Justin Tafoya/NCAA Photos
The honorees were flown to Indianapolis for a weekend of bonding activities, community service and panel discussion with NCAA leaders. “We met so many leaders and women that have access to so many inspiring people and all these girls that were nominated have done such incredible things.”
The winner of the NCAA Woman of the Year was Lizzy Crist, a biomedical engineering graduate and former women’s soccer standout at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
On top of this nomination, Hoynaski was ranked second in the NCAA Division II Women’s tennis singles rankings this past spring.
After graduating in December with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, Hoynaski will be moving to Idaho to be an assistant coach at Boise State University. She is currently the volunteer assistant coach at HPU for the women’s tennis team.
She enjoys working with others to help girls and plans to do more of this in the future. “Myself and one of the other honorees from the University of Oklahoma are looking to possibly start a nonprofit that will help empower young girls and women.” explained Hoynaski.
Hoynaski appreciated this opportunity to really understand her potential as she explained “This weekend was so valuable to remind you of how much you are capable of achieving and how much more you can achieve.”