ST. LOUIS - Valparaiso’s Rylee Cookerly has been named the MVC Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and headlines a group of 21 student-athletes named to the 2020-21 Missouri Valley Conference volleyball scholar-athlete first team and honorable mention team, announced by the league office today. The team is selected by a vote of the league’s volleyball sports information directors, with approval from head coaches. 

With a 3.97 grade point average in Nursing, Cookerly, a senior libero for Valpo, is a three-time selection on the scholar-athlete team.  This year’s first team includes nine players that have received previous MVC volleyball scholar-athlete recognition, including seven repeat first team honorees. 

Thirty-five student-athletes were nominated for the MVC’s scholar-athlete team. The criterion for the honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75-percent of the regular-season matches. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore status in both athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible).