Four Cougars Earn Academic All-MWC Honors

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Thursday the Mountain West Conference announced the fall Academic All-Conference honorees, including four BYU women’s volleyball players.

Seniors Morgan Lloyd Sorensen and Kayla Walker, freshman Nicole Warner and junior Melissa Lake Wright were named to the fall 2009 Academic All-MWC team.

“It is no surprise to me that for all the effort they put out on the court to help their team transfers to them excelling in the classroom as well,” BYU head coach Shay Goulding said. “I am proud that they put the time in necessary to accomplish this great goal.”

To be eligible for selection, student-athletes must have completed at least one academic term at the member institution while maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and be a starter or significant contributor on their athletic team.

A total of 384 MWC student-athletes were named to the All-MWC team including women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s cross country, football and women’s soccer. BYU lead the conference with 67 citations, New Mexico came in second (50), Air Force and Utah tied for in third (44), Wyoming next (41), UNLV (39), TCU (36), CSU (35) and San Diego State (28) rounding out the field.

Sorensen earned a 3.01 cumulative GPA as a senior student-athlete in exercise and wellness. Walker garnered a 3.21 GPA as a senior student-athlete in global studies. Warner achieved a team-high 3.85 GPA in Exercise Science while Wright tabulated a 3.80 GPA in her fitness and wellness management classes.

Although all of these women’s volleyball players earned exceptional grades in the classroom, they are no strangers to the volleyball court. Warner, Sorensen and Wright played in all 110 sets of the 2009 season while Walker played in 92 because of injury.

Walker led the team in kills and was second in the conference with 339 total and 3.68 per set on the season. Sorensen led the Cougars in digs with 350, averaging 3.18 per set. Wright finished the season with 291 digs, the second most on the team. Warner’s season hitting percentage of .303 led the team and was third in the MWC. She also led the team in blocks with 134 total on the season and 1.22 blocks per set.

While Walker and Sorensen finished their senior years of playing collegiate volleyball, Wright and Warner will be back on Elaine Michaelis court in the fall.