Lexington, Ky.----The Wingate University volleyball team collected another recognition for the 2009 season, earning the AVCA Team Academic Award. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade point average.
Wingate had a team GPA of 3.48 in the 2009-10 academic year. The Bulldogs had four players earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III honors. Rising senior middle blocker Stormi Gale (Richmond, Texas) the SAC and Regional Player of the Year, earned first team Academic All-District III honors for the second consecutive season. She also became the first volleyball student-athlete in SAC history to earn first team All-American honors in 2009.
Recent Wingate University graduate Chelsea Cancelliere (Richboro, Pa.) earned second team Academic All-District III laurels, along with rising senior middle blocker Rebecca Bloemer (Louisville, Ky.). Rising junior setter Liz Willis (Raleigh, N.C.) earned third team honors. Cancelliere was also honored with the prestigious SAC Scholar- Athlete Award in 2009. She graduated with a 4.000 GPA, earning her degree in Sport Management. Wingate leads the conference with 52 SAC Scholar-Athlete Award winners in school history.
The Wingate University volleyball team had 11 student-athletes named to the SAC Honor Roll, consisting of student-athletes with a GPA of 3.200 or higher. The Bulldogs earn the AVCA Team Academic Award for the third consecutive year. Wingate is the only SAC school to earn the honor for the 2009-10 year.
In the three-year span, Wingate has also seen huge success on the court, posting a 100-6 overall record since the start of the 2007 season. The Bulldogs have won four consecutive SAC regular season and tournament titles. Wingate has hosted the NCAA Southeast Regional the past two seasons; the Bulldogs have been ranked number one in every regional poll since the start of 2008. In 2009, Wingate University became the first team in SAC history to be ranked in the AVCA Top 25.
Gale earned first team All-American honors, while junior outside hitter Lauren Billo (Orland Park, Ill.) and sophomore libero Maggie Malone (Chicago, Ill.) were honorable mention All-Americans. Willis joined the three on the all-conference and all-region teams. Head coach Shelton Collier was named the SAC Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season, while also earning Regional Coach of the Year honors for the second straight year.
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.
Wingate offers 34 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past four years.
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 36 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 45 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.
(Wingate University assistant sports information director Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)
