Four Women’s Volleyball Players Earn CSC Academic All-District Accolades

COLCHESTER, Vt. – Four Saint Michael’s College women’s volleyball players qualified for College Sports Communicators (CSC) NCAA Division II Academic All-District honors on Tuesday.

Seniors Caroline Curley (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) and Beth Syverson (Huntington, Vt./Mount Mansfield Union/Emmanuel [Mass.]) and sophomores Alexandra Báez Rentas (San Juan, Puerto Rico/New Dimensions) and Aaliyah Huihui-Martinez (Salinas, Calif./Notre Dame) all claimed accolades.

Saint Michael’s was one of five schools in the Northeast-10 Conference with the maximum four qualifiers, joining Bentley University, Franklin Pierce University, Saint Anselm College and Southern New Hampshire University. The four Purple Knights were among 26 total from the NE10.

College Sports Communicators, formerly known as College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), moved to a qualification system for All-District accolades this year, with major contributors toting at least a 3.50 cumulative grade-point average by their sophomore seasons eligible. Each school was able to put six student-athletes forward for an award that previously necessitated voting. Instead, All-District honorees can now advance directly to the Academic All-America ballot, which will still incorporate national membership voting.

Curley turned in career highs in kills (79), blocks (36) and hitting (.247) from her spot in the middle. The second-year captain downed 10 kills on .450 hitting against regionally-ranked University of New Haven on Nov. 5, notched nine kills on .400 hitting with five blocks versus Assumption University on Sept. 10, and added seven kills against Pace University on Oct. 22. Curley had six kills, five aces and four blocks versus D’Youville (N.Y.) College on Aug. 27. A psychology major with a 3.72 GPA, Curley has landed on the NE10 Academic Honor Roll six times while claiming two Division 2 Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Awards.

Syverson posted career highs in kills (102) and blocks (40) while tying for 13th in the NE10 in solo blocks (15) out of the middle. She notched 11 kills on .348 hitting against Assumption, 10 kills and seven blocks at Le Moyne College on Oct. 14, and dropped six kills against eventual NCAA regional runner-up Adelphi University on Oct. 21 and at then-regional No. 1 American International College on Oct. 29. Syverson added five kills and five kills against New Haven, six blocks, five kills and four digs versus Southern Connecticut…