Michigan State University Athletics
Minarick Earns CoSIDA Academic All-District Honors
11/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
East Lansing, Mich. -- - Junior setter Rachel Minarick (Naperville, Ill.) is one of six athletes to be named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District team.
Minarick's honor is the 16th Academic All-District honor for the Spartan volleyball program, and she is just the fifth in program history to be named to the First Team. She joins Dana Cooke (1995, 1996), Val Sterk (1996), Michelle Kopka (2003) and current assistant coach Kristen Kelsay (2013) to take First Team honors and advance to the national ballot. Cooke, Sterk, Jenilee Rathje (2011) and Kelsay all earned spots on the Academic All-America team.
Minarick, a 2014 Honorable Mention AVCA All-America selection and 2015 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, holds a 3.95 cumulative grade point average as a kinesiology major. She and the five other District V honorees (from schools in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio) now advance to the national ballot, with the Academic All-America team scheduled for release on Dec. 5. Candidates must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA or higher and be a starter or significant reserve to be considered.
Minarick has averaged 10.07 assists per set over the first 12 Big Ten matches, which puts her 10th in Conference games. She is averaging 10.12 assists per set overall, which ranks 10th. She is coming off her fourth double-double performance of the season and 21st of her career, recording 38 assists and 11 digs at Purdue last Saturday. Three of her four double-doubles this season have come on the road.
Minarick became the seventh setter in school history to surpass 3,000 career assists. Her current total of 3,019 career assists ranks seventh all-time in the MSU record book. Minarick's career average of 9.80 assists per frame is currently eighth in the Spartan annals.
CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA PROGRAM
NCAA DIVISION I - DISTRICT 5
(Includes institutions in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio)
Kelsey Bittinger, Kent State - 3.98, Applied physics
Ashley Evans, Purdue - 3.90, Mechanical engineering
Jaelyn Keene, Illinois State - 4.00, Financial accounting
Rachel Minarick, Michigan State - 3.95, Kinesiology
Kayla Morin, Northwestern - 4.00, Economics / political science
Katie Tomasic, Miami (Ohio) - 4.00, Finance
