Women's Volleyball | 3/17/2026 12:05:00 PM

The NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award has been synonymous with Saint Francis University since its inception in 2003-04. Red Flash women's volleyball senior Korrin Burns (Clarion, Pa./Clarion Area) helped continue the tradition of being the only NEC school to earn at least one honor every year, with her being named the NEC Women's Volleyball Scholar Athlete of the Year on Tuesday. Burns earned the distinction for the second-straight year, and it's the fourth time the women's volleyball program has received the honor after Anne Roosevelt (2006) and Elise Dumouchelle (2019) previously earned the honor. 

Burn, who had a 3.72 cumulative grade-point average through the fall semester, was named to the NEC Academic Honor Roll (3.2 GPA or above) for the fourth-straight campaign and earned a spot on the NEC Commissioner's Honor Roll (3.75 GPA or above) for three seasons to go along with her scholar athlete award in the league for the last two years. The physical therapy major has also earned recognition for her academics on the national stage, earning a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-American third-team distinction in the fall and becoming the first player in program history to earn CSC Academic All-District honors for three seasons. 

Burns' exploits on the court are just as impressive for this season alone: AVCA All-American honorable mention, NEC Player of the Year, AVCA All-Region honorable mention, ECAC Offensive Player of the Year, All-NEC first-team, All-ECAC first-team all-star, NEC All-Tournament team, and an eight-time NEC Player of the Week. She is the first player in program history to earn the two ECAC distinctions, the second to earn the AVCA honors, and the fourth NEC Player of the Year. Burns is the first player in program history to earn three All-NEC first-team recognitions and was the first player to earn ECAC honors with her second-team nod last season.

This season, she shattered the single-season program record for kills by 102 kills and finished with 588 kills, and she finished her career with 1,453 kills to break the career record by 28 kills. She concluded her career with seven of the top eight single-game kill performances in program history, with six of those marks coming this season, including an NEC Tournament record 28 kills against FDU in the NEC Semifinals on November 21. She is also the only player in program history to have 30 kills in a game, a feat she accomplished twice, including 30 against Siena on September 5. 

In NCAA Division I, Burns finished the season fourth in kills per set (5.25), fifth in points per set (5.70), sixth in kills, seventh in points, and 16th in attacks per set (11.92). Burns was also one of nine players who amassed over 550 kills in 2025. She did not rank among the top in the nation in aces, but did contribute to the team finishing third in the nation in aces per set (2.20). 

In addition to holding the program record for career kills, Burns is second in career hitting percentage (.216), fifth in total attacks (3,582), and eighth in service aces (104). Burns was named NEC Player of the Week 12 times in her career, the third most in NEC history. Saint Francis enjoyed its best four-year stretch with Burns leading the charge to a 61-49 overall record and a 44-14 mark in NEC play, while advancing to the NEC Tournament all four years.

Since the NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award was created in 2003-04, Saint Francis has had at least one player earn the honor every year for a total of 85 times. Burns marks the 17th time a Red Flash player has earned the recognition in consecutive seasons and the 20th time a student-athlete earned the honor twice (three times a student-athlete earned the honor twice, but not consecutively). The university recently  announced its 2026 Athletics Hall of Fame class and Burns joins four members of that class as student-athletes that have won back-to-back honors: Anna Hoffman Balouris (2009-10, women's indoor track and field) Elise Lofgren (2013-14, women's swimming), Tesa McKibben (2012-13, women's soccer) and Alli Williams (2013-14, women's basketball). Saint Francis Hall of Famers Beth Swink (2004-05, women's basketball) and Ryan Sheehan (2004-05, men's outdoor track and field) also won back-to-back for their respective sports along with Ann Colligan (2012-13, women's golf), Lance Geesey (2015-16, football), Francis de Fries (2015-16, men's soccer), Brandon Mihalo (2017-18, men's golf), Allison Duke (2016-17, women's soccer), Bryce England (2016-17, cross country, 2017-18 indoor and outdoor track and field), Mackenzie Saban (2021-22, softball) and Rachel Marsden (2023-24, softball) have also earned the honor in back-to-back camaigns. Sheehan also did it twice, but not in consecutive years for men's cross country (2003, 2005), and Erica Jacobs also turned the trick for both women's indoor and outdoor track and field (2005, 2007).