Nov. 27, 2006

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The honors keep rolling in for Missouri volleyball senior Jessica Vander Kooi. Late Monday afternoon the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced that Vander Kooi was voted to the organization's Academic All-American Second Team. Vander Kooi, a native of Hinton, Iowa, and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, becomes the first Tiger volleyballer to receive such an award since 1986.

Vander Kooi, an International Business major with a 3.84 GPA, was earlier today named to the All-Big 12 First Team for the third-consecutive season. She will lead Mizzou into the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament this weekend as the Tigers will play No. 21 Santa Clara in Palo Alto, Calif., at 4:30 p.m. (PST).

Vander Kooi becomes only the third volleyball Tiger to be voted to the CoSIDA team. Dianne Berg and Kathy Oriel made the list in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, the College Sports Information Directors of America; a 2,000-member organization consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

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