Missouri State volleyball players Adeana McAfee, Sarah Lansing and Jamie Adams were among 22 student-athletes named as Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athletes for 2006 in a vote of the league’s sports information directors. McAfee was a first-team selection while Lansing and Adams were honorable mention choices.
McAfee, a senior from Winona, Mo., carries a 3.36 GPA in speech/language pathology and has been the starting libero in all 31 matches this season. She has already totaled 556 digs, good for second on Missouri State’s single-season chart, and also ranks second all-time with 1,449 career digs and first with a 3.76 per game average.
A senior middle blocker from Quincy, Ill., Lansing makes the honorable mention squad with a 3.42 GPA in recreation and leisure studies. She ranks second in the conference and in the top 20 nationally with her 1.47 blocks per game average, and is fourth in Missouri State history with 521 total blocks.
Adams is MSU’s lone junior represented on the team, earning honorable mention honors with a 3.68 GPA in entertainment management. The Liberty, Mo., native ranks second on the team with 313 kills and a 2.90 per game average, and has been the Bears’ top attacker in terms of kill average in the second half of the season.
The criteria for the Valley’s Scholar-Athlete Team parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.00 cumulative grade-point average. Also, students must have participated in at least 75 percent of the regular season, reached sophomore academic and athletic standing at their institution and completed at least one full academic year at their institution.
The Bears open play at the State Farm MVC Tournament as the third seed Friday, Nov. 24, against No. 6 Evansville at 12:30 p.m. A victory earns a semifinal match against second-seeded Wichita State at 7:30 that night. The other side of the bracket includes No. 1 Northern Iowa, No. 4 Creighton and No. 5 Illinois State. The final from Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill., is set for 5 p.m. on Nov. 25.
