Thursday, November 19, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – A total of 47 GNAC volleyball players have been honored for excellence on the court and in the classroom with selection to the 2015 GNAC Volleyball All-Academic Team.

At least one player represents all 11 GNAC member institutions on the team. Concordia, in their first year as a GNAC program, leads the list with eight all-academic selections. Central Washington landed seven players on the list while Seattle Pacific landed six.

While she was Simon Fraser’s only selection to the team, sophomore outside hitter Christine Howlett leads the squad with a 4.00 cumulative grade point average as a business major on the Canadian system that awards a 4.33 GPA for an A-plus. Central Washington junior outside hitter Kiah Jones is next on the list with a 3.93 GPA as a biology major. Five players on the team have cumulative GPAs of 3.80 or higher.

Jones leads a total of 14 players are repeat selections to the team. Nine of those are three-time selections: Alaska’s Sam Harthun and Samantha Hesterman, Central Washington’s Linden Firethorne and Rachel Hanses, Montana State Billings' Kyndal Williams, Northwest Nazarene’s Lineal Phillips, Elayna Rice and Taylor VanValey and Seattle Pacific’s Ellie Britt.

 * - 2014 All-Academic Selection   + - 2013 All-Academic Selection