BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Augustana's Erika Bute was voted by the league coaches as the NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year for volleyball. A native of Alden, Minnesota, Bute graduated with a degree in marketing and is pursuing her master's in sports administration and leadership and Business administration. The Alden-Conger High School grad holds a 3.93  undergraduate grade point average and holds a 3.89 graduate GPA. 
 
The "NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year Award" is presented to a NSIC volleyball student-athlete who participates at their institution for four years and is academically superior while making a positive contribution to their team and the University. The NSIC Outstanding Senior of the Year award was initiated in 2021 to honor an outstanding senior that exemplifies the attributes of the model NSIC student-athlete.
 
For the second consecutive season Bute was named Libero of the year after she recorded 381 digs in conference play, the most in the NSIC. Bute also leads the NSIC in digs per set with 6.05. She also earned her fourth all-NSIC honor after achieving first-team honors in 2022, 2023 and second-team honors in 2019 and 2021.  She ends her career with 2,259 digs over the course of 436 sets. She ranks second in program history in digs, while also ranking second with 5.18 digs per set. Her 2,259 digs are third amongst active career leaders in all of DII, and 11th across all levels. 
 
In the classroom, Bute has earned NSIC All-Academic Team honors each season eligible and also maintained Summa Cum Laude status all four years at Augustana.  
 
Bute has been the Vice President for the Augustana Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) since 2021. She has helped coordinate the all-athlete awards banquet, led fundraisers for Make-A-Wish and for  weekly team engagement with a local K-6 special needs class.  She was selected to attend NCAA Leadership Forum ad also served as a student-athlete panelist for the NSIC Congressional Engagement Listening Session which featured NCAA President Charlie Baker and U.S. Senator John Thune.

"Erika has been the most reliable player and person in our program since 2019 and has almost singlehandedly set the tone for our passing and defensive side of the ball. On top of being a great leader on the court, she is that person/player who has also dictated the attitude and tone of our team off the court. She is the team organizer, the player who manages communication between the coaches and the team, and the player who can be counted on in any situation. Erika gets 'life'. She has been instrumental in the success of our program since she set foot here and she will be greatly missed," said Augustana Head Coach Jennifer Jacobs.