Hayden Barton, Emmagrace Cobb and Julia Wheeler were named College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-District team, the organization announced giving the Carson-Newman volleyball team a trio of selections.
The 2022 Academic All‐District® Women's Volleyball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student‐athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All‐America® program separately recognizes volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Student-athletes must have a grade-point average of at least 3.50.
The Eagles had not had a player named to the team since 2015 when outside hitter Sara Fairley earned the laurel after an all-region campaign.
Barton has a 3.97 GPA in exercise science and was one of the best liberos in the region as a senior ranking eighth in the league with 3.82 digs per set. Her 424 for the year ranked fourth-best in the SAC. She led all players with 20 digs in the final match of her career, the 18th time in her career she has had at least 20 in the 76 matches played. She finishes her career with 1,156 scoops, good for 10th on the school's all-time charts.
All told, the Hixson, Tenn. native recorded double-digit digs in 60 of her 76 contests with 17 of at least 20. Barton Posted a season-high 28 digs in a five-set over Mars Hill on Oct. 25 and recorded a double-double at Mars Hill during her freshman year becoming the first libero in recorded history to achieve that.
Cobb, also an exercise science major, tallied a 3.59 GPA and adds to a breakout season after being named third-team All-SAC at the end of the regular season. After playing 35 total sets in 2021, the Greensboro, N.C. native is eighth in the SAC in blocks per set (0.89) and 12th in hitting percentage (.298). She had 53 total kills and 12 total blocks in her first two years before moving to the middle this season to post 1.81 kills per set and 102 total rejections. She had three double-digit kill matches and led the team in blocks 23 times.
The junior posted a career-high with 15.5 points bolstered by 10 kills and 5.5 total blocks in a five-set win over Mars Hill on Oct. 25 and tallied a .556 hitting percentage with 10 kills at the Lions on Sept. 13. She recorded at least five overall blocks in five of her last nine outings.
Wheeler's GPA is 3.66 in special education adding to her haul of laurels for the season. For the year, the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native brings her award tally to 11 adding to a first-team All-South Atlantic Conference honor and a SAC All-Tournament team selection. Wheeler is the fourth player in program history to earn all-region nods in two separate seasons joining three-time pick Morgan Ballard and two-time selections Carly Mozgai and Nikki James.
Wheeler has been one of the best players in the country this year ranking 10th in kills per set (4.38), 10th in points per set (4.83) and fifth in total kills (504). Her total kill tally is over 100 more than any other player in the SAC and was one of five players in the nation with at least 500. In the C-N record books, Wheeler's 4.38 kills per set average stands as the best in a single year passing Carly Mozgai's 4.17 set in 2010. The Murfreesboro, Tenn. native had the second-most kills for a single season in school history and finishing 19 shy of the all-time school record.
This laurel marks the 15th in her first two years on campus as she was in double figures for kills in 31 of the team's 33 matches leading the team in the category 30 times. Between last season and this year, Wheeler increased her kills per set average by one and her hitting percentage by nearly 60 points. She had tallied 18 double-doubles and five matches with 20-plus kills.
The three-time SAC Offensive Player of the Week matched a career-high with 27 kills, the second-most in a single match in school history, on a .348 hitting percentage adding 18 digs in a four-set win at Limestone on Sept. 10. Among a year of highlights, Wheeler notched a career-best .583 attack percentage with 14 kills on 24 swings in a sweep of Emory & Henry on Nov. 1.
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