COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Angela Lowak, a junior outside hitter on the Texas A&M volleyball team, has been named the National Consortium for Academics and Sports PlayMaker of the Month for November, the NCAS announced today.
The NCAS PlayMaker of the Month award program recognizes the academic achievement and community service of student-athletes at NCAS member institutions. According to the NCAS, student-athletes’ work in the classroom and within the community many times goes unnoticed. PlayMaker of the Month gives coaches, administrators, teammates, and faculty of NCAS member institutions an opportunity to nominate and recognize those student-athletes who exemplify the NCAS motto of “Changing Lives Through the Power of Sport.” PlayMaker of the Month recipients are recognized in the months of October through June.
Lowak, a business honors major who carries a 3.843 grade point average, utilizes her membership in several service organizations as a platform to volunteer at an array of service projects that have benefitted communities on both a local and national scale, as well as at the international level. The New Braunfels, Texas, native volunteers each year at Aggie Residence Hall Move-In Day, welcoming and assisting new and returning Aggies move into their dorms. A team captain and the volleyball team representative on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Lowak also volunteers at Film on the Field, a SAAC-sponsored annual event held to unify the student-athletes with the student body and members of the community.
As a member of the Business Honors program at Texas A&M, Lowak has volunteered at the Brazos Valley Food Bank, where she helps sort items and pack family boxes. Also a member of Pi Beta Phi, Lowak is active in the sorority’s philanthropic endeavors for literacy, visiting the Barbara Bush Parent Center where she assists local citizens become more proficient in English. She also helps organize and also coaches a team at the sorority’s annual “Dodge The Arrow,” dodge ball tournament, which raises funds to provide books to children in need.
During the off-season, Lowak and other FCA members interact with local elementary school children during their physical education classes, teaching them the importance of being physically active and setting an example for good sportsmanship and team work. Lowak also participated in a three-week Campus Crusades event in which she cleaned roads and picked up litter in Breckenridge, Colo. In addition, she raised her own funds and went on a 12-day trip with Adventures and Missions to AIDS-stricken Swaziland, where she volunteered at the hospital, helped with playground improvement projects and taught Bible study sessions.
On the court, Lowak has appeared in all 22 matches this season, starting 18, and has helped lead the Aggies to a 15-7 overall mark, as well as a 7-4 record in the SEC. The tournament MVP at the Texas A&M Invitational earlier this season, Lowak is second on the team with three double-doubles, and she is third on the team in kills (2.49), and points (2.96) per set for the full season.
Lowak and the Aggies begin a three-match home stand on Thursday as they play host to LSU in a crucial SEC showdown at Reed Arena. First serve is at 6 p.m., and the match will be televised on the SEC Network. The Aggies are in fifth place in the conference standings after defeating Missouri, 3-1 (17-25, 25-13, 25-13, 25-16), Sunday in Columbia, Mo. LSU (14-7, 9-3) is in third place and rides a nine-match win streak into College Station.
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Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics