OMAHA, Neb. -- Already a two-time AVCA All-American for her play on the court, Creighton Volleyball standout Jaali Winters has been named a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American. Winters is just the third Bluejay to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America plaudits in program history, and the 35th different individual in Creighton history across all sports to be recognized.
Winters is Creighton's first student-athlete named CoSIDA Academic All-American since men's tennis student-athlete Harrison Lang last spring. She joins Emily Greisch (2006, Third Team) and Megan Bober (2012, Second Team) as Creighton Volleyball players to earn Academic All-America recognition from CoSIDA. Winters was the only student-athlete on any of the 2017 CoSIDA Division I Volleyball Academic All-America teams from the BIG EAST, or from a school in Nebraska.
Winters is a junior outside hitter hailing from Ankeny, Iowa. Winters ranked seventh in the BIG EAST in kills per set (3.37), eighth in points per set (3.77), 18th in digs per set (2.81) and 25th in service aces per set (0.19). Winters is a three-time First Team All-BIG EAST selection and was a Third Team All-American in 2015 before earning Honorable Mention All-America accolades in 2016. Winters owns a 3.92 GPA while studying Business Information & Analytics, as well as French.
Of the 21 members of the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I volleyball team, 18 have at least a 3.90 GPA, with 14 student-athletes sporting a perfect 4.0 GPA. The seven members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.98. Missouri State's Lily Johnson was named the CoSIDA Academic All-America of the Year in volleyball.
CoSIDA, which stands for College Sports Information Directors of America, takes into account the academic and athletic achievements of student-athletes, and began honoring student-athletes in 1952. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games, and no student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and has reached sophomore athletic eligibility. In the cases of transfers, graduate students and two-year college graduates, the student-athlete must have completed one full calendar year at the nominating institution to be eligible. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution.
Creighton finished the 2017 season with a 26-7 record, winning BIG EAST regular-season and tournament titles for the fourth straight season. The Bluejays are coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
For the ful list of CoSIDA Academic All-America honorees click here.