SAC Volleyball Places Three on Capital One Academic All-America Team
Wingate's Grace Krauser and Liz Willis and Tusculum's Ashley Sarmiento have been selected to the Capital One Academic All-America Volleyball Team, CoSIDA announced on Wednesday.
TOWSON, Md. - Wingate's Grace Krauser and Liz Willis and Tusculum's Ashley Sarmiento have been selected to the Capital One Academic All-America Volleyball Team, CoSIDA announced on Wednesday.
Krauser was named to the First Team, while Willis and Sarmiento were selected to the Second Team. It marks the first Academic All-America distinction for each of the three student-athletes.
"I am incredibly proud of Grace, Liz and Ashley for their selections to the Capital One Academic All-America Team," said SAC Commissioner Patrick Britz. "We're fortunate to have them represent the conference not just as elite athletes on the volleyball court, but as standouts in the classroom as well.
"Considering the Academic All-America Team has only 18 spots, to have three of them come from the SAC is a testament to the caliber of our student-athletes and institutions."
Krauser, a senior on the Wingate team that went 32-1 in 2011 and won the SAC regular season and Tournament championships, carries a perfect 4.0 GPA majoring in sociology with minors in Spanish and philosophy.
In 2010, Krauser was the recipient of the prestigious NCAA Elite 88 Award, which honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA competing at each championship's final site.
On the court, Krauser was a second team All-SAC selection this season after finishing in the conference's top 10 in both kills-per-set and hitting percentage.
Willis, meanwhile, adds yet another line to her impressive list of individual accolades in 2011 with her selection to the Academic All-America Second Team. The senior has also been named the SAC Player of the Year, Food Lion SAC Championship Most Valuable Player, SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Southeast Region Player of the Year, second team All-America by Daktronics and third team All-America by the AVCA.
Willis is the only student-athlete in the Southeast Region and one of just three in the nation to earn both All-America and Academic All-America honors in 2011. She carries a 3.83 GPA studying biology.
Sarmiento, who led Tusculum to an 18-13 record and a bid to this season's NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship, is the first Academic All-American in Pioneer volleyball history.
The sophomore from Dayton, Ohio has a perfect 4.0 GPA majoring in mathematics and math education. She was the only underclassman named to the Academic All-America team.
Sarmiento finished second in the SAC this season in assists, averaging 10.29 per set.