McLean, Swartz Earn Academic All-District Honors

East Lansing, MIch. -- Michigan State senior Samantha McLean (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and redshirt junior Lauren Swartz (Pittsburgh, Pa.) have both been named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team, as announced on Thursday.

Perhaps the most competitive single-sport team in the CoSIDA Academic All-America program, McLean and Swartz were among the seven athletes chosen from District V, which encompasses the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. In District V, six of the seven athletes hold a 3.95 cumulative GPA or higher, and A total of 27 of the 79 total Division I players across the eight districts boast a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.

Both standouts play significant roles for the 2019 Spartans (14-11), and both boast perfect 4.0 grade-point averages in their undergraduate work. They are both two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholars and Academic All-Big Ten selections.

McLean earned Third Team Academic All-America honors in 2018 as a Kinesiology/ Pre-Med major. In addition to maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, she serves as the Spartan team captain. She is MSU's primary DS, and averages 1.76 digs per set, while adding 16 service aces, third on the team and one of six players with double-digit aces. McLean helps the Spartans maintain a .173 opponent hitting percentage, which Is the second-lowest in the Big Ten and 36^th nationally.

Swartz, a redshirt junior athletically, is pursuing her master's degree in marketing research after she graduated with her undergraduate degree in Economics in just six semesters with a perfect 4.0 GPA in May 2019. Swartz is enjoying a healthy season after missing significant time in 2018. She's coming off back-to-back double-digit kill efforts, and is averaging 1.38 kills, 0.66 digs, and 0.82 blocks per set on the left side.

Swartz is now is the 15th volleyball student-athlete in program history to earn All-District honors. She follows Becky Belanger (1990), Val Sterk (1994, 1995), Dana Cooke (1995, 1996), Julie Pavlus (1996), Jessica Sanborn (1999), Sarah Gustin (2000), Erin Hartley (2001), Michelle Kopka (2003), Ashley Schatzle (2006), Miken Trogdon (2006), Jenilee Rathje (2010, 2011), Kristen Kelsay (2013), Rachel Minarick (2016, 2017), and McLean (2018, 2019).

McLean, Swartz, and first-team honorees from all eight districts will now advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot. Academic All-America honorees will be announced in early December.

Related News

Players Mentioned

Samantha McLean

Rachel Minarick

Lauren Swartz

Related Videos