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ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America® University and College Division Teams (.pdf) TOWSON, Md. -- Senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto of undefeated Penn State University and senior outside hitter Amber Thomas of Juniata College head the 2008
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women's Volleyball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Harmotto and Thomas were named as the Academic All-America® of the Year award winners in the University and College Division, respectively.
Harmotto, who was a third team Academic All-America® selection in 2007, has started all 28 matches for the Nittany Lions, who are ranked No. 1 in the country with a perfect 28-0 record. Last season, she was the Big 10 Conference Player of the Year and led Penn State to the national championship. A three-time first team All-Big 10 selection, she also earned her second AVCA All-America honor in 2007.
A native of Aliquippa, Pa., Harmotto is an Elementary Education major with a 3.47 Grade Point Average. She averages 2.47 kills per game while leading the nation with an impressive .526 hitting percentage. She is currently second on her team with 118 blocks, but leads the Nittany Lions with 1.46 blocks per set. A two-time Academic All-Big 10 performer, she was a 2008 Honda Award finalist.
Of the six student-athletes on the Academic All-America® University Division first team, two are repeat honorees. Senior Mallory Clements of SIU-Edwardsville was actually a first team College Division selection in 2007. With the Cougars reclassifying to NCAA Division I status, she earned first team honors at the University Division level in 2008. Senior Cynthia Barboza of Stanford was a second team Academic All-America® in 2007.
Clements, a native of Mount Pulaski, Ill., is a 3.94 Business Administration major. She will leave the SIUE volleyball program as its all-time leader in service aces while ranking second in career assists. A two-time All-American setter, she led the Cougars to a 13-14 record overall in their first full season of NCAA Division I competition.
A native of Long Beach, Cal., Barboza has started every match for the Cardinal. A two-time All-Pacific 10 Conference first team selection, she leads the team in kills and kills per game. A two-time All-Pac 10 Academic pick, Barboza was an alternate for the 2004 & 2008 Olympic volleyball teams. A Political Science major with a 3.33 G.P.A., she is a two-time AVCA All-American.
Rounding out the six-member Academic All-America® University Division first team are a pair of teammates from the University of Nebraska, senior Amanda Gates and junior Kori Cooper, as well as senior Briana Stremick of the U.S. Military Academy. All three are earning their first national Academic All-America® honors.
Cooper and Gates have helped the third-ranked Cornhuskers post a 25-2 record this season. Over the last three years, they have led the Cornhuskers to an overall record of 88-5. They were teammates on Nebraska’s 2006 national championship team.
A Speech and Language Pathology major with 3.82 G.P.A., Cooper is a three-year starter at middle blocker for the Cornhuskers. A two-time first team All-Big 12 All-Academic selection, she was the recipient of the 2008 UNL Hero Leadership Award. The Amarillo, Texas native is nationally-ranked with a .396 hitting percentage and has had 14 matches this season with a .400 hitting percentage or better.
Gates, a native of Columbus, Neb., is a Communication Studies major with a 3.96 G.P.A. A 2008 team captain, she leads the Cornhuskers with 100 blocks and blocks per set (1.11). Gates is a two-time first team Academic All-Big 12 selection while being selected twice to the Big 12 Fall Good Works Team.
Selected as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for volleyball, Stremeck is a Rhodes Scholar candidate. She is a Mechanical Engineering major with a 3.94 G.P.A. The Langdon, N.D. native leads the Black Knights in kills per game and is second in blocks and service aces. As a senior, she was selected to the All-Patriot League second team. She is a three-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection. She also plays flute in the Army band.
Honored as the Academic All-America® of the Year in the College Division, Thomas was selected as the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. She is only the fourth player in the history of the award to win it in back-to-back years. A Communications major with a 3.55 G.P.A., she is only the second player in the history of the Juniata volleyball program to earn All-America honors four times. A native of Ephrata, Pa., Thomas earned first team All-America honors three times and third team All-America once.
The Landmark Conference Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008, Thomas led the Eagles with 3.81 kills per game. A member of the Eagles’ national championship team in 2006, she ranks among Juniata’s career leaders with 1,703 kills. As a senior, she paced Juniata to a 35-5 record and a berth in NCAA Division III semi-finals. Led by Thomas, Juniata made its 28th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the only program to appear in all 28 Division III Tournaments. Thomas was inducted into the National Communications Honor Society this past spring.
Thomas is joined on the Academic All-America® College Division first team by five other seniors, including two seniors with perfect 4.00 G.P.A.’s.
While senior Jen Blasko of Slippery Rock is an Exercise Science major with a 4.00 G.P.A., senior Meghan Warkentin of Biola is a Mathematics major with a 4.00 G.P.A.
Seniors Katie McCaffrey of St. Thomas (Minn.), Christina Speer of Principia and senior Maria Steinhagen of Concordia-St. Paul complete the Academic All-America® College Division first team.
The six members of the Academic All-America® College Division first team have a 3.89 average G.P.A.
An outside hitter from Summit Hill, Pa., Blasko led Slippery Rock to four straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. As a senior, she earned All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference honors for her third time. In 2008, she helped The Rock post a 26-11 record while leading the team with 2.95 kills and 3.07 digs per set.
A two-time NAIA All-American, Warkentin has led Biola to a 27-3 record and a number two national ranking in the NAIA. A three-time All-Golden State Athletic Conference selection, the Visalia, Cal. native leads the Eagles with 3.17 kills per game.
A Mathematics major with a 3.87 G.P.A., McCaffrey has been named as a first team AVCA All-American the last two years. In her career, she has led the Tommies to a 115-22 record, including a perfect 28-0 conference record in her final two seasons. A native of Fort Collins, Col., McCaffrey was the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year for 2008. As a senior, she led the Tommies to a 28-3 record by averaging 3.96 kills and 1.29 blocks per set.
A Mathematics, Computer Science and Spanish major with a 3.97 G.P.A., Speer was named as the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year three times. As a senior, Speer averaged 4.74 kills per set with a .332 hitting percentage. A native of Ballwin, Mo., Speer led Principia to a 23-10 record in 2008.
A key performer for the number one-ranked team in NCAA Division II, Steinhagen is an Art Design major with a minor in Business and a 3.93 G.P.A. She has led Concordia-St. Paul to a 34-1 record and a berth in the Elite Eight which the Golden Bears will host. A three-time all-conference selection, she leads the Golden Bears with 1.06 blocks per set while averaging 2.8 kills per set. As a junior, she was an AVCA third team All-American while helping the Golden Bears win the NCAA Division II national championship.
To be eligible for the national team, a student athlete had to have been selected to its District’s first team. Initial nomination criteria at the District level includes being a varsity starter or key reserve, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, reaching sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by their sports information director.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All America honors on more than 14,000 student athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
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For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan O’Connell, Towson University (
doconnell@towson.edu)
(410) 704-3102
Academic All-America ® Vice-Chair For Publicity/Communications
Geoff Hassard, SUNY at Oneonta (
hassargj@oneonta.edu)
(607) 436-2106
Academic All-America ® Coordinator of Publicity