ST. LOUIS – Illinois State volleyball juniors Stef Jankiewicz and Sydney Holt have been elected to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team, the league office announced on Tuesday morning. The pair were among 13 volleyball student-athletes recognized as first-team honorees.
A criminal justice major, Jankiewicz holds a 3.65 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) and was named a recipient of the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award at the end of the 2018-19 school year. She has been placed on the MVC Honor Roll twice and is a four-time AFNI Honor Roll selection. The Farmington Hills, Michigan, native was featured in the Valley's Scholar-Athlete Spotlight on Oct. 9, before receiving the State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award at the end of last month.
On the court, Jankiewicz currently sits at No. 19 and No. 25 in Division I in total assists (1,186) and assists per set (11.08), respectively. The Redbird starting setter has accumulated 3,936 assists in her career – moving into No. 5 all-time at ISU – after becoming the second-fastest setter to reach the top 10 last season. Additionally, Jankiewicz ranks second in both assists and assists per set in the conference and has turned in 14 double-doubles.
Holt, who holds an impressive 3.85 cumulative GPA as an exercise science major, earned her first academic honor from the conference last year, being selected for the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award at the conclusion of the 2018-19 school year. The two-time MVC Honor Roll member has been placed on ISU's AFNI Honor Roll in every possible semester and has maintained the highest GPA among active upperclassmen.
The middle blocker is just as profound on the court, boasting the third-best hitting percentage (.316) in the league and best among Redbirds. The league leader in total blocks and blocks per set, Holt ranks No. 21 in all of Division I in blocks with 146 as she's averaging 1.23 per set. Holt's 131 block assists currently ranks sixth all-time at ISU in a single season, while her total blocks is tied for the 14th most. The junior currently ranks in the top 25 all-time in program history in blocks per set, total blocks, service attempts and block assists.
The criterion for the honor parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Google Cloud Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA (on a 4.00 scale). Also, students must have participated in at least 75-percent of the regular-season matches. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore status in both athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible).
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By securing the No. 3 seed in the upcoming MVC Volleyball Championship, the Redbirds will take on No. 6-seeded Evansville on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The winner of the opening-round match will face No. 2 Loyola Chicago at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
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