ST. LOUIS – Twelve Missouri Valley Conference volleyball student-athletes have been named to the 2017 MVC Scholar-Athlete First-Team by a vote of the league’s volleyball sports information directors, with approval from head coaches. An additional eight student-athletes have earned honorable mention, the league office announced today.
This year’s first-team includes 10 players that have received previous MVC volleyball scholar-athlete recognition, including seven repeat first-team honorees, including Drake’s Kyla Inderski, Illinois State’s Jaelyn Keene and Ali Line, Missouri State’s Emily Butters, Brianne Dixon and Lily Johnson and Southern Illinois’ Abby Borrow. Illinois State’s Keene and Missouri State’s Johnson are three-time first team honorees. Two members of the first team boast a perfect 4.00 GPA, in Illinois State’s Ali Line and Missouri State’s Brianne Dixon.
Four Valley first team scholar-athletes – Illinois State’s Keene, Missouri State’s Johnson and Dixon and Valparaiso’s Allison Ketcham – were also members of their respective CoSida Academic All-District Teams.
Forty-four student-athletes were nominated for the Valley’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 3.20 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).
2017 Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Scholar-Athlete First-Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Pos. |
GPA |
Major |
| Abby Barrow |
Southern Illinois |
Sr. |
OH |
3.86 |
Exercise Science |
| Emily Butters |
Missouri State |
Jr. |
L |
3.88 |
Exercise & Movement Science |
| Brianne Dixon |
Missouri State |
Sr. |
DS |
4.00 |
Cell & Molecular Biology |
| Ashley Edelen |
Southern Illinois |
Sr. |
L |
3.86 |
Health Care Management |
| Rachel Griffin |
Indiana State |
Sr. |
S |
3.92 |
Exercise Science |
| Erica Haslag |
Bradley |
Jr. |
OH |
3.87 |
Actuarial Science |
| Kyla Inderski |
Drake |
Sr. |
OH |
3.86 |
Advertising Marketing |
| Lily Johnson |
Missouri State |
Sr. |
OH |
3.96 |
Cell & Molecular Biology |
| Jaelyn Keene |
Illinois State |
Sr. |
MB |
3.97 |
Financial Accounting |
| Allison Ketcham |
Valparaiso |
Jr. |
OH |
3.99 |
Exercise Science |
| Ali Line |
Illinois State |
Jr. |
MB |
4.00 |
Nursing |
| Courtney Pence |
Illinois State |
Jr. |
L |
3.72 |
Small Business Management |
2017 Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Pos. |
GPA |
Major |
| Sydney Bronner |
Valparaiso |
Jr. |
MH |
3.70 |
Elementary Education |
| Katherine Carlson |
Valparaiso |
Jr. |
OH |
3.94 |
Business Management |
| Kathryn Graf |
Bradley |
So. |
MB |
3.83 |
Finance |
| Heather Hook |
UNI |
Sr. |
S |
3.33 |
Finance & Economics |
| Jamie Livaudais |
Bradley |
Sr. |
OH |
3.90 |
Dietetics |
| Maddy Moser |
Loyola |
Jr. |
L |
3.86 |
Nursing |
| Sarah Peterson |
Indiana State |
Sr. |
OH |
3.85 |
Speech & Language Pathology |
| Piper Thomas |
UNI |
Jr. |
MH |
3.47 |
Exercise Science |