LATHAM, N.Y. - The United East has announced its 2025 Fall Senior Scholar Athlete Award winners that consists of six student-athletes from four different member institutions. This award recognizes a senior who truly represents the student-athlete model by performing in competition, in the classroom and around the community.
Gallaudet University senior
Ella Gamble (Cullowhee, N.C.) was selected as the women's volleyball honoree. Gamble is the first Bison to earn a United East Senior Scholar Athlete Award this school year (2025-26) and the first from GU women's volleyball and the first fall honoree for Gallaudet. Gamble joins previous Gallaudet honorees in
Cotis Martinez (2025 - men's track and field),
Blessed Mbogo (2024-25 men's basketball),
Liam Painter (2024 - men's track and field) and
Cassidy Perry (2023-24 - women's basketball). Perry is the only Bison to earn the conference's Senior Athlete of the Year honor, when she claimed the 2023-24 Female Senior Athlete of the Year.
The other award honorees from the United East fall sports include; Penn College's Mitchell Campbell (men's cross country), University of Valley Forge's Sofia Troland (women's cross country), St. Mary's College of Maryland's Jena Vanskiver (field hockey), St. Mary's Jack Nelson (men's soccer) and Penn State Harrisburg's Diana Pon (women's soccer).
Gamble will go down as one of the top setters to compete in the conference as she stacked numerous individual accolades to pair with her team's success. Donning the Bison jersey for three years, Gamble hit the 1,000 assist mark in all three seasons as she totaled 3,562 helpers overall. Despite only playing for three years, Gamble has recorded the eighth-most assists among active Division III players. That wasn't the only place Gamble excelled though as she also has accrued 322 service aces which leads all active NCAA Division III players. Her efforts have earned her All-Region honors and First Team All-Conference honors all three years. In 2024 she was also tabbed an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Honorable Mention and in 2023 she collected United East Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Her success on the court spilled into the classroom as she maintained a GPA of 3.93 in Physical Education and Recreation. In 2023 she collected College Sport Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America® honors and she has earned United East Scholar Athlete nods three times. Competing at Gallaudet, which is an institution for the deaf and hard of hearing, Gamble has made her way over to the local Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) to help strengthen young athlete's confidence on the court. The Culluwhee, N.C. native, also represented the United States of America at the Deaf Olympics this year in Tokyo.
"Ella is truly deserving of this recognition. She is extremely serious about her academics and consistently demonstrates strong character, leadership, and integrity. Her hard work and dedication both on and off the court have led to her success, and she represents Gallaudet volleyball with excellence," said Gallaudet women's volleyball coach
Lynn Ray Boren.
For this award, a graduating senior student-athlete is selected based on a combination of their academic success, athletic success and service. An institution may nominate one student-athlete from each sport and the winner will be selected by a voting group. GPA for nominations will encompass the student-athletes cumulative GPA. Fall and Winter student-athletes will exclude their final semester GPA. Criteria for the awards is as follows: I.) A student-athlete must have a senior or graduate student class standing. II.) A student-athlete must be at least in his or her second year of competition at their current institution in any sport. III.) Must be a leading contributor to a team's success throughout the duration of his or her career. IV.) Must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. V.) Evidence of active leadership and community service involvement throughout collegiate career.
The United East began the Senior Scholar Athlete Award in 2022-23.
UNITED EAST SENIOR SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARD - GALLAUDET'S HONOREES
Also see:
