Lee’s Ashleigh Simes was one of the two student athletes named the Gulf South Conference’s nominees for the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The other nominee is Marissa Mitchell of the University of West Alabama.
Launched in 1991, the NCAA Woman of the Year program celebrates graduating female student-athletes who have excelled in the classroom, in competition, and in their communities. Open to student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions, nominees must have earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and completed their undergraduate degree by the summer of 2025.
All nominees selected at the conference level move on to the national selection committee, which will choose the top 10 honorees from each division. From that group of 30, one exceptional individual will be named the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year. The Top 30 honorees will be announced later this year, with the winner recognized during the 2026 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C.
ASHLEIGH SIMES
Simes, a 2025 GSC Commissioner’s Trophy winner, had a standout career as a member of the Lady Flames tennis program posting a 58-15 singles record in four seasons, including a 23-3 mark in 2025. She won the 2024-25 ITA Cup Singles Championship and ITA Cup James O’Hara Sargent Sportsmanship Award, while also being tabbed Division II Honda Athlete of the Year finalist for tennis, an ITA All-American, ITA DII Senior Player of the Year.
Off the court, the native of Canberra, Australia, has spent the last three seasons volunteering time to young adults in the Cleveland, Tenn. community teaching tennis clinics to individuals and groups.
Simes graduated from Lee with a degree in business administration and 3.66 grade point average.