pavan played college volleyball at the university of nebraska-lincoln where she led her team to win the 2006 ncaa division i women's volleyball tournament, in which she was named the tournament's most outstanding player. her collegiate accolades are numerous, and include winning the honda-broderick cup (2006–07), the avca national player of the year (2006), and thrice the big 12 conference player of the year (2005–07). she also won several academic awards, including twice winning espn the magazine academic all-american of the year (2007–08) and earning a degree in biochemistry with a perfect 4.0 gpa.