BUFFALO, NY – Lexi Quagliana (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South) was named the 2026 SUNYAC Softball Scholar Athlete of the Year as nominated and voted on by the conference sports information directors.
 
Quagliana started all 41 games for the Bengals in 2026 as she hit a team-high .395 with 10 doubles, three triples, 30 RBI, adn was 10-10 on stolen base attempts. She was named First Team All-SUNYAC and Third Team NFCA All-Region and holds a 3.91 GPA at a mathematics education major. Quagliana also earned the SUNYAC Elite 20 Award last season for her efforts in the classroom. She is the first athlete in program history to earn the honor.
 
Since the award began in the 2016-17 athletics season, Quagliana is now the fifth Buffalo State student-athlete to earn the recognition as she joins Josh Mayer (2025) of cross country, Emil Norrman (2022-23) and Brody Power (2017-18) of men's hockey, and Jenna Smolinski (2016-17) of women's soccer.