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Cooper, Welch named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
By Matt Green
TOWSON, Md. -- Shorter University volleyball standouts Jessica Cooper and Leslie Welch have been named to the Capital One Academic All-America College Division Volleyball Team the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced today.
The Academic All-America honors come on the heels of each player being named Academic All-District selections for the College Division of District 2 in November. Both Cooper and Welch were named to the second team.
Cooper, a senior, boasts a 3.89 grade point average as an Early Childhood Education major. The Grant, Ala., native had a career season in 2011 that culminated with a host of postseason awards. Cooper picked up Southern States Athletic Conference East Division Player of the Year accolades on her way to a third team NAIA All-America selection.
Cooper earned a place on the SSAC All-Academic team for the second straight year and was a 2011 NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
Welch, a junior out of LaFayette, is another two-time SSAC All-Academic selection and possesses a perfect 4.0 GPA in Psychology. Welch enjoyed her best season in a Lady Hawk uniform with 207 kills, 113 total blocks and 23 digs.
Shorter had a total of four players named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team last month. In addition to Cooper and Welch, juniors Jordan Corder and Loren Olive were honored for their academic prowess.
The Lady Hawks were the most represented SSAC institution on the College Division Academic All-America roster with two honorees. Spring Hill's Yiting Cao and Lee University's Sarah Smith also made the cut as a total of 18 volleyball student-athletes earned Academic All-America recognition.
