Nine Cougars earn WCC All-Academic honors

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Nine BYU women's volleyball student-athletes received WCC All-Academic honors, the league announced on Tuesday. 

Libero Kelsey Knudsen, outside hitter Erin Livingston, middle blocker Whitney Llarenas and libero Aria McComber were all named to the First Team, while outside hitter Sophia Callahan, libero Abbey Dayton, opposite hitter Kate Grimmer, outside hitter Alyssa Montoya and outside hitter Elyse Stowell earned Honorable Mention honors. 

The Cougars led the conference with four student-athletes named to the First Team. LMU had three with San Diego and San Francisco each posting two.

Now a two-time WCC All-Academic First Team honoree, Knudsen was also named an All-WCC Honorable Mention this season after leading BYU in digs, with 248. The libero finished tied for third in assists (82), and also tallied 14 service aces. Knudsen posted a 4.0 GPA in post-baccalaureate studies. 

Livingston paced the Cougars with a team-high 437 kills, hitting .304 for the year. She was also named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American after earning AVCA Pacific South All-Region honors. A family life major, Livingston has a 3.5 GPA.  

Hitting an impressive .386 this season, Llarenas recorded the third-most kills for BYU, tallying 212. She also sent the second-most total blocks, with 96, and earned All-WCC First Team honors for the first time in her career. Llarenas is a marriage, family and human development master's student with a 3.79 GPA. 

McComber has earned All-Academic honors in both of her seasons with the Cougars. McComber finished with the second-most digs (243) and tied for the third-most assists (82) this season. Boasting a 3.83 GPA, she is a double master's student in environmental science and business administration. 

Callahan is a Pre-Business major with a 3.26 GPA. She tallied 23 kills, 10 total blocks, eight digs and three assists on the year. A business management student with a 3.45 GPA, Dayton finished with 24 digs and two assists. Grimmer is a global supply chain management student with a 3.54 GPA. She recorded the third-most digs this season (206), also registering 82 kills, 37 total blocks and 37 assists. 

Montoya finished tied for third-most service aces, with 20, also totaling 30 digs and four assists. An open major, she has a 3.55 GPA. Stowell is also an open major, with a 3.79 GPA. Providing a spark off the bench, she tallied the fourth-most kills for the Cougars (131) while adding 25 digs, 24 total blocks and five assists. 

View the full list of WCC All-Academic honorees at the WCC website.