Wayland Baptist volleyball player
Lucie Mahelova has earned another honor, this time named to the Academic All-America
® NAIA Volleyball Second Team. The Academic All-America honors are awarded by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The Academic All-America® team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
A senior setter from Znojmo, Czech Republic, Mahelova previously was named CoSIDA Academic All-District for the second straight year. To be eligible for nomination for that honor, student-athletes must be a sophomore or above and have been enrolled at their current institution for at least a calendar year, have at least a cumulative 3.30 GPA, and be a starter or significant reserve who has participated in at least 50 percent of the team's games.
The Academic All-America award is the latest on a long list of post-season honors for Mahelova.
She was named NAIA All-America Honorable Mention after becoming a two-time All-Sooner Athletic Conference honoree, making the first team this year after earning a spot on the second team last season. This season she was voted SAC Setter of the Year as well as American Volleyball Coaches Association NAIA Southcentral Region Setter of the Year while making the AVCA regional first team.
Mahleova ended this season with 1,316 assists, which ranked second nationally, and her 11.15 assists per set ranked eighth. She finished second on the team in blocks with 63.
In three years as a Pioneer after transferring from Laredo College, Mahelova recorded 2,239 assists, which ranks in the top six in school history. She had a career-best 29 digs and 61 assists this season against Mid-America Christian. Prior to this season she was a two-time academic all-conference honoree and an NAIA Scholar-Athlete.
Missouri Baptist University graduate student Giovanna Tapigliani headlined the Academic All-America® NAIA volleyball team. For the second straight season, Tapigliani was named the Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for NAIA women's volleyball. The São Paulo, Brazil, native is the first student-athlete to earn the award in back-to-back seasons since Paula Ferreira of Columbia (Mo.) in 2010-11.
Tapigliani posted a 4.0 cumulative grade-point average in her Masters of Business Administration graduate work after earning a bachelor's degree in business administration with a 4.0 GPA. The opposite hitter for the back-to-back NAIA national champions had a career year with a team-best 432 kills, a .353 hitting percentage, 189 digs, 87 blocks and team-best 39 service aces. A two-time NAIA All-America first team and NAIA All-Tournament selection, she finished the season ranked in the NAIA Top 20 in points per set (8th), kills per set (12th) and hitting percentage (19th).
In total, seven student-athletes were named to the first team and seven to the second team..
The NAIA Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NAIA national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2021-22 NAIA Academic All-America® teams.
For more information on the Academic All-America® program, go to
https://academicallamerica.com/.
