Gator Country

The performance of UF senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel will be a key to the Gators' postseason hopes in the coming weeks. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

Senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel was honored on the Capital One First Team Academic All-District, making the Colorado native eligible for the Capital One Academic All-America ballot. This award recognizes student-athletes who excel in their sport and in the classroom.

Jaeckel, a fifth-year senior, pursuing her graduate degree in Sport Management. She holds a remarkable 4.0 grade point average and is a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll. The senior ranks in the top-10 in the Florida record books with 1,210 career kills (good for 10th all-time) and 3,114 attacks to (placing her eighth all-time).

“It would be hard not to recognize the play of Kristy and what she has done over the past several weeks,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “You can look at the hitting numbers but again we are looking at her quality touch on blocking and her dig percentage and her passing numbers and she is doing all the little things that make everybody around her better.”

This is the first year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) moves from acknowledging a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and doubles the number of scholar-athletes honored. The teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
 
Jaeckel has already received prestigious accolades this year, including SEC’s Offensive Player of the Week and AVCA National Player of the Week for the her spectacular performance on the road against Auburn and Georgia on September 30 and October 2.

In the area of service performance, Jaeckel has been unstoppable lately and that has earned notice from the UF staff. Head coach Mary Wise said she was extremely impressed with the senior’s consistency behind the serving line and has confidence in Jaeckel to lead the team to big scoring runs during matches.

“I think you notice in the past month or so, she has become so stable in terms of being very low-error and has that ability to make runs,” Wise noted. “I think the great servers in the country are those that if they can get on a run they just get more and more heat behind their serve and become harder to pass. I think there was a point in Kristy’s career where she would end that streak, before the opponents did. Whether it was a service error or just mis-hitting the ball and now she is so consistent with her toss and contact point. It’s a really high contact point with a lot of whip behind it.”

Jaeckel urrently cranks in the Southeastern conference’s top-10 in three statistical categories, including kills (3.42/set - 8th), points (4.17/set - 5th) and service aces (.39/set – 2nd).

More Other Sports | RSS