LANCASTER, Pa. - Moravian junior football player Nick Zambelli (Allentown, Pa./Parkland), McDaniel junior volleyball player Taylor Bauman (Charlottesville, Va./Albermarle), and Washington College junior women's swimmer Julia Portmann (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd) are the recipients of the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
The Centennial recognizes a Scholar-Athlete of the Year in each of its 24 championship sports to a junior or senior member of the All-Conference team with the highest cumulative grade point average. The overall Scholar-Athletes of the Year are presented to the students with the highest GPA among the 12 men and 12 women's winners. The individuals honored this year are all 4.0 students.
Zambelli, who was selected to the 2017 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Football First Team for NCAA Division III schools, is majoring in Economics and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics at Moravian, and he has a 4.00 GPA. He also earned a spot on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll for the second straight fall and was a member of the All-Centennial Team in the fall for making the All-Conference and Academic Honor Rolls. He made 70 tackles to finish third on the Moravian team, and his total included 44 solo stops, one tackle for loss and one sack as he was selected to the Centennial All-Conference Second Team. Zambelli also recorded six passes defended including three interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. He was named the Greyhounds' Most Valuable Player in the season finale at rival Muhlenberg College after a career-high 13 tackles and an interception on the goal line. Zambelli, who has been a three-year starter at Moravian and was a co-captain for the Hounds in 2017, has registered 164 tackles with 106 solo stops, seven interceptions, 17 passes defended, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, one tackle for loss and one sack in 31 career contests.
A libero, Bauman finished the season with a single-season program-record 580 digs. She also led the team with 61 service aces. Her 5.63 digs per set also paced the Centennial Conference (CC) while her 0.59 aces per set ranked third. A three-time all-conference selection that includes a second-team selection this season, she led the Green Terror (19-9, 6-4 CC) into the conference semifinals and an ECAC bid. She was named to the CC Academic Honor Roll each of the last two seasons and was the conference's Scholar-Athlete of the Year this fall with a 4.0 grade-point average in biology. The captain has been named to the Dean's List in each of the previous four semesters and was tabbed to the McDaniel Green and Gold Honor Roll last year. She was also named a second-team Academic All-American in the fall.
Portmann is a Biology and Environmental Science double major and has a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average. She earned All-Centennial Conference honorable mention in the 400 freestyle relay this year after picking up a silver medal in that event at the Centennial Conference Championships. She was named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll and the Academic All-Centennial team and was named the Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's swimming back in March. Just last week, she was named to the Google Cloud Division III Academic All-District II Women's At-Large Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).