Tweet

Rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

• • 

SIOUX CITY, IA -- Seven athletes from Columbia College were named Friday to the 2012 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete teams.

Four Cougar men's soccer players and three women's volleyball players earned the honors. To be nominated by an institution's head coach or sports-information director, student athletes must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 and must have achieved junior standing.

Soccer players Jovan Ilic and Adam McChesney were named to the team for the first time while Tom Vincenc repeated his honor from last year. The fourth player selected, Dan Rapp, is a three-time honoree.

Juniors Ilic and McChesney are both pursuing degrees in sports management and have one season left with the team. Vincenc, a math major pursuing minors in accounting and finance, and Dan Rapp, a human services major pursuing an English minor, wrapped up their careers earlier this week when Columbia College lost to Mobile University in the second round of the NAIA men's soccer championship tournament.

Overall, 315 men's soccer players were named to the 2012 Scholar-Athlete team.

Three Cougar women's volleyball players also earned the accolade. Aleah Hayes, majoring in psychology and in education, and Erin Pavlin, majoring in marketing, received the honor for the first time while Paula Ferreira, majoring in international business and in management, became a two-time winner.

Overall, 408 volleyball players were named to the 2012 Scholar-Athlete team.

In addition to the Scholar-Athlete awards, some Cougar volleyball players also received other honors. Ferreira, a senior setter, was named for the fourth time in her career to the American Volleyball Coaches Association NAIA All-Region team and was named the Midwest Region's Player of the Year. Teammates Kahoriz Feliz, Brooke Simpson and Elena Berroteran took home AVCA first-team accolades. In addition, head coach Melinda Wrye-Washington was named Midwest Region Coach of the Year after leading the Cougars to a 40-1 record thus far.

The team plays at 8 p.m. Friday in the NAIA quarterfinals against Viterbo.

• Complete list of the AVCA NAIA All-Region teams
• More about the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award