Jan. 25, 2008

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- A trio of Navy players were among the 46 student-athletes who were named this week to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for the sport of volleyball. Student-athletes in the league must have both earned a varsity letter during the 2007 season and attained at least a 3.20 grade-point average during the 2007 fall semester to garner the accolade.

Headlining the list of recipients this year is Navy's Rachel Dougherty (Sr., Derwood, Md.), who was previously selected as both the league's scholar-athlete of the year for the sport and as a Second-Team Academic All-American by ESPN the Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America. The first Mid to garner either of the aforementioned two awards, the physics major posted a 4.00 GPA during the recently completed fall term to make her third appearance on the honor roll.

Dougherty was just as impressive on the court as she was in the classroom. A First-Team All-Patriot League performer, she set Navy records with 500 kills and a 4.50 kills-per-game average this season. Her latter average ranked fifth in the NCAA this season, while she also ranked 27th in the country by averaging 0.54 service aces per game. She ended her career ranked fifth in Navy Division I history with 1,137 career kills and tied for fourth place with 274 career blocks.

Nikki England (Sr., Colorado Springs, Colo.) compiled a 3.24 GPA this past fall to be named to the honor roll for the second time in as many seasons. The oceanography major appeared in 30 of Navy's 33 matches this season and averaged 1.22 digs per game. She tallied 544 kills and 437 digs while appearing in nearly 300 games during her career.

Garnering the accolade for the first time was Aubrey Manes (So., Pratt, Kan.), who finished the fall term with a 3.59 GPA. The political science major averaged nearly one kill and one dig per game this year.