November 17, 2004
Texas A&M's Christi Hahn and Kari Kelley were named to the Volleyball Academic All-Big 12 first team, and teammates Holly Clay, Laura Jones and Melissa Munsch were named to the second team, the league office announced.
In addition, Hahn was distinguished as being the only student-athlete on the 52-member Big 12 Academic Team to sport a cumulative 4.00 grade-point average (GPA).
Hahn, a sophomore from Leander, Texas, has played in every match for the No. 13 Aggies this season while drawing 10 starts. The right-side hitter/middle blocker is second among starters with a .310 hitting efficiency while averaging 2.19 kills per game. Hahn, who was named to the 2004 Academic All-District VI volleyball second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) earlier this month, is majoring in general studies.
Kelley, who is majoring in speech communication, has started every match and played in all but one game this season. A junior setter from Houston, Kelley is averaging 12.15 assists per game and ranks ninth in the A&M records with 1,593 career assists.
Clay, also a junior speech communication major from Houston, has played in every game this year. As the designated libero, she anchors the back-row defense and is averaging 1.61 digs per game.
Jones, a junior majoring in agricultural development, leads the Aggies and is second in the Big 12 with 4.75 kills per game. In addition, the outside hitter leads A&M with 5.37 points per game and is second on the squad with 2.85 digs per game. A native of Arlington, Texas, Jones is a two-time Big 12 Player of the Week this year, and she became the first in A&M history to garner AVCA National Player of the Week honors.
Munsch, a senior kinesiology major and middle blocker from Columbus, Texas, leads the Aggies in hitting percentage (.310) and in blocks (1.70), digs (3.05) and aces (0.44) per game, and she is second in kills (3.81) and points (5.16) per game. In addition, the 2003 second-team All-American is listed in the A&M top 10 for career kills, total attempts, digs, aces, blocks assists and total blocks.
All five players are making their first appearance on the Academic All-Big 12 Team.
Nominated by each institution's student-athlete support services and sports information offices, the volleyball academic all-league squad consists of 37 first-team members and 15 members on the second team. First-team members have maintained a 3.2 or better GPA either cumulative or in each of the past two semesters, while the second team members are those who have a 3.0 to 3.19 GPA in each of the previous two semesters.
In addition to academic requirements, student-athletes must have participated in 60 percent of her team's scheduled matches to qualify. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are eligible.
The Aggies (16-6, 12-4 Big 12) return to action tonight when they play host to the Iowa State Cyclones. First serve is at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum.