LITTLE ROCK – After cementing her legacy as the best player in UALR volleyball history, senior Edina Begic added one more award to her already loaded resume as she received the 2015 Crain Automotive Team Arkansas Star of Tomorrow Award at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet at the Statehouse Convention Center on Friday night.
The Star of Tomorrow Awards recognizes the top collegiate athlete in the state of Arkansas. This is the only award that recognizes student-athletes from across the state based on their achievements on the field of play, contributions in the community and academics.
This is just the latest award in Begic's long list of accomplishments. Begic set a Sun Belt Conference record after being named the SBC Offensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive year in 2014. Begic earned her third straight All-Sun Belt First Team award in 2014 in addition to her second AVCA All-Region Team award. She has been recognized as an All-American honorable mention for the past two years. Begic has been named the Sun Belt Conference's Offensive Player of the Week 18 times throughout her four-year career and bested her own NCAA season-record after she claimed her eighth award of the 2014 season.
Begic holds multiple records for accomplishments at UALR. Begic ended her four-year career as the NCAA Division I active career kills leader with 2,189, the most in UALR history and fourth-most in Sun Belt history. Begic holds the UALR season record for kills with 634 in 2014 and the record for most kills in a match with 36 against Arkansas State in 2013. She has taken more kill attempts than any other player in Sun Belt history with 4,518.
In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Begic will graduate in May with a degree in international business. She was named to the 2013 Academic All-District Team and 2014 Academic All-District Second Team. Begic has been named to the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll twice for achieving a GPA of 3.0 to 3.49 and the SBC Commissioner's List for accumulating a GPA of 3.5 or better.
