JWU Women's Volleyball Trio Earns Google Cloud Academic All-America® Honors
JWU's Maria Coniglio and Katie Leidhold collected Second Team honors while Kate Walker was a Third Team Selection, as announced by CoSIDA.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications
AUSTIN, Texas – Just like on the court, recognition for the Johnson & Wales University women's volleyball team's work in the classroom is being acknowledged at a national level. On Wednesday, three student-athletes were named to the Google Cloud Academic All-America teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)
Junior Maria Coniglio and senior Katie Leidhold collected Second-Team honors while Kate Walkerwas a Third-Team selection. In order to be nominated, student-athletes must have at least a 3.30 grade point average and play in 50 percent of the team's matches.
Named AVCA First-Team All-American and GNAC Tournament MVP, Coniglio is the fourth player in school history to earn a trio of First-Team All-GNAC honors. She has a 3.98 GPA in culinary nutrition. Named GNAC Player of the Week on September 17, the Old Bethpage, NY native averaged 2.96 kills, 2.64 digs and 3.4 points per set. That rate increased to 3.62 kills and 4.06 points against regionally ranked team. She notched 11 matches with 10 or more kills, including a season-high 20 against #1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Leidhold has a perfect 4.0 GPA in biology. In addition to her academic recognition, Leidhold is a two-time AVCA All-Region selection. She had another good all-around season, averaging 2.84 kills, 2.48 digs and 3.4 points. She upped that rate to 2.96 kills and 2.7 digs versus GNAC schools. The Acushnet, Mass. native had five double-doubles including 15 kills and 11 digs against Coast Guard to earn her GNAC Player of the Week.
With a 3.97 GPA in counseling psychology, this is Walker's second Academic All-America honor after a Third-Team selection in 2017. Named AVCA Third-Team All-American, she continues to be one of the top hitters in the country with a .407 hitting percentage that ranked fourth in the NCAA. The GNAC Player of the Week on September 24, she averaged 3.06 kills per set and 0.77 blocks per set. A native of Oakland, Calif., she had 12 double-digit kill matches with a career-high 18 versus No. 24 Bowdoin. Walker was named to the GNAC and NCAA Regional All-Tournament team.
Johnson & Wales season ended with a loss in the finals of the Providence Regional. The Wildcats completed the year with a 33-2 record and had a 60-game home court winning streak that was third-longest in NCAA Division III history.