Pac-12 | Washington’s Kelcey Dunaway awarded a postgraduate scholarship

Graduating senior is one of just three Pac-12 volleyball players to win honor

Washington graduating senior Kelcey Dunaway—just back from China—is one of four Washington Huskies to be awarded a prestigious 2013 Pac-12 Postgraduate Scholarship.

Washington's Kelcey Dunaway (upper left) at the Great Wall of China with fellow Pac-12 volleyball athletes
-photo by Pac-12 Conference

“I’m really honored,” Dunaway told Volleyblog Seattle. “I know a lot of other athletes who are interested in grad school, so to be one of those they selected is just amazing.”

In all, 44 graduating Pac-12 seniors, including four from UW, won the $3,000 scholarship. To be considered, a recipient had to have graduated with at least a 3.0 GPA, performed “with distinction” on a varsity team, and “behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics.”

The four Washington recipients

• Kelcey Dunaway, volleyball
• Christine Babcock, track & field/cross country
• William Chandler, football
• Seamus Labrum, rowing

Dunaway is one of only three conference volleyball players to earn the award. The other two are NCAA Player of the Year Alaina Bergsma of Oregon, and Cal libero Robin Rostratter. Volleyball fans will remember Rostratter for the distinctive blue helmet she wears for protection against concussions.

Dunaway will spend the next several weeks studying for the MCAT and applying to medical schools. At this point, Washington is her first choice, and women’s health is high on her list of interests. She understands she has a long, hard road ahead.

“My volleyball experience will have a huge impact,” she says. “People I know who are in med school say it’s really hard, and that there are many times you want to quit. That’s something we had to overcome in volleyball. (Coach) Jim (McLaughlin) always taught us that we do what we do because it’s hard, and that it’s a privilege to succeed where others won’t often try.”

Dunaway, of Bainbridge Island, played middle blocker for the Huskies. She was one of 13 players from 11 Pac-12 schools selected for a recent two-week tour of China, coached by USC’s Mick Haley.

“After the last match in Beijing, Mick looked at the team and told us how proud he was. Even though we played some incredibly tough professional teams, and although we had only trained together for a few sessions, he said he had never seen a team come together that closely, that quickly.

“And, you know, he was exactly right.”