UF volleyball excels off court

Ten University of Florida volleyball players were named to the Southeastern Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll Thursday for their exceptional performances in the classroom. The 10 volleyball student-athletes ties for the program’s best, which was also accomplished in 2006, 2009 and 2011.

The 2012 Gators squad notched the conference title with a 19-1 SEC record. Florida finished out their season with an overall 27-5 record marking their 22nd consecutive 25-win season. Florida has now led the country with 686 wins since 1991. The Gators reached their 21st regional semifinal in program history this season and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the final AVCA poll.

All three of Florida’s CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees were along the 10 student-athletes honored on the academic roll: AVCA First Team All-American and SEC Player of the Year Chloe Mann, First Team All-SEC and AVCA All-America Honorable Mention selection Tangerine Wiggs and Second Team All-SEC and SEC Community Service Team honoree Betsy Smith.

Fifth-year middle blocker Betsy Smith, a Business Administration & Political Science major and Mass Communication minor, and senior right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs, an English major and Education minor, both graduated in December. Other senior defensive specialist Sundai Weston is set to graduate in May with a bachelor’s in Public Relations. The senior trio averaged a cumulative GPA of 3.75.

Junior middle blocker ChloeMann wrapped up her junior year leading the nation in hitting percentage (.444) while excelling in a bachelor’s-master’s program in Business Administration & Information Sciences & Operations Management.

The rest of the Gators who made the honor roll are as follows:

 

Athlete Major Class/2012 Eligibility
Simone Antwi Management So./Fr.
Chloe Mann*#$^ Business Administration & Information Sciences& Operations Management Gr./Jr.
Madison Monserez Marketing So./So.
Holly Pole Sport Management Jr./So.
Noami Santos-Lamb Advertising So./So.
Betsy Smith*^ Business Administration & Political Science Sr./Sr.
Taylor Unroe Family, Youth & Community Sciences Jr./So.
Sundai Weston Public Relations Sr./Sr.
Berkley Whaley Public Relations So./Fr.
Tangerine Wiggs*#$^ English Sr./Sr.

* 2012 All-SEC selection | # 2012 AVCA All-South Region |

$ 2012 AVCA All-America | ^ 2012 CoSIDA Academic All-District

 

Gator Country reporter Elizabeth Rhodes can be reached at lizxxbeth@gators.ufl.edu.

 

mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.