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Dougherty Tabbed as Academic All-American
Nov. 28, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Navy senior outside hitter Rachel Dougherty (Derwood, Md.) garnered another postseason accolade Wednesday as she was named to the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Volleyball Academic All-America Second Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). A total of 18 student-athletes from across the country were selected as Academic All-Americans, with six placed onto each of the three teams. The recipients represent such programs as Nebraska, Ohio State, Florida, Stanford, Texas and Penn State. Dougherty, who recently became the first Mid to be tabbed as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the sport of volleyball, is the first player from the Navy program to earn Academic All-America status. Additionally, she is just the fourth volleyball player in league history to garner the honor. "To be considered one of the top-12 student-athletes for her sport is a tremendous honor for Rachel," said Navy head coach Mike Schwob. "She continually demonstrated her drive to excel in both academics and athletics throughout her career. There were many challenges along the way for her to do so, but she overcame those and it is great for her to have received the recognition she has for her efforts in the classroom and on the volleyball court." A physics major at Navy, Dougherty has posted a 4.00 grade-point average in four of her six completed semesters and carries a 3.89 cumulative GPA. She previously was named as one of 15 Bowman Scholars at Navy for the 2007-08 academic year. This award provides her with the opportunity to attend the Naval Postgraduate School next year and allowed her to receive early admission into the Navy's nuclear surface warfare community. One of the requirements for the program is her completion of an independent study project this year, the title and subject of which is Isotopic Information from Proton Induced Gamma Ray Emission Measurements.
During one weekend during the 2007 season, Dougherty recorded 16 kills on a Friday night, took the GRE exam Saturday morning and tallied 22 kills during a Saturday afternoon match against Colgate. For her efforts she garnered the first of her back-to-back Baden Patriot League Player-of-the-Week honors. A First-Team All-Patriot League performer this season, Dougherty set Navy records with 500 kills and a 4.50 kills-per-game average this year. Her latter average currently ranks 53rd in the NCAA this season, while she also stands 28th nationally with an average of 0.54 service aces per game. Towards the end of the 2007 season, Dougherty knocked down a career-high 30 kills during a five-game match against UMBC. It was the third-highest kill total posted by a Mid in school history and was just two shy of tying the Navy single match standard. One of five players during Navy's 17-year Division I era to amass 1,000 career kills, Dougherty ended her playing days ranked fifth in school history with 1,137 kills and tied for fourth place with 274 career blocks. Dougherty was placed onto the national Academic All-America ballot by virtue of earning first-team all-district honors for the second consecutive year. To be eligible for the initial district award, all nominees must have been of at least sophomore standing in the classroom, carry a minimum GPA of 3.20 and have been a starter or key reserve for their team. 2007 Academic All-American of the Year -- Sarah Pavan, Nebraska 2007 First-Team Academic All-Americans 2007 Second-Team Academic All-Americans 2007 Third-Team Academic All-Americans |
