PENSACOLA, Fla., – Former North Alabama standout volleyball player Laura Bellinger has been named as one the 11th annual Gulf South Conference Top Ten Award Winners. The Portage, Mich., native is the seventh UNA student-athlete to win the honor, which is based on athletic, academic and extracurricular achievement.

After graduating UNA in December with a 3.19 grade-point-average and a degree in public relations, Bellinger has received numerous post-season awards including UNA Co-Female Student-Athlete of the Year and the Alabama Sportswriters Association Small College Athlete of the Year.

During the season, she helped lead UNA to a 35-6 record and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II national tournament. She controlled the offense as the setter and team captain while the Lions led the GSC in hitting percentage, kills and assists.

She was an AVCA first team, All-American and the 2007 Daktronics South Central Region Player of the Year. She was also the GSC East Division Player of the Year and the most outstanding player of the conference tournament.

In the classroom, she was an ESPN the Magazine third team Academic All-District selection, as well as a member of the GSC Academic Honor Roll. Aside from logging countless volunteer hours on the political campaign trail for Alabama House Representative Tammy Irons, she is a member of the Public Relations Committee of Alabama and was named to the Delta Epsilon Iota honor society.

Members of the GSC Top Ten are composed of five male and five female student-athletes. The top male and female in each group will receive the Commissioner’s Trophy, the conference’s most prestigious honor. The Top Ten are selected with the assistance of an advisory committee representing the Ads, SWAs, SIDs, FARs and presidents from randomly selected GSC schools. The committee makes a recommendation to the commissioner, who has the final decision.