Sierra Wilson and Krystal Rivers Named Academic All-Americans
12/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Junior setter Sierra Wilson and redshirt sophomore right side hitter Krystal Rivers have both been named Academic All-Americans, with Wilson named to the First Team and Rivers named to the Third Team.
This is the first season in school history in which Alabama has had multiple Academic All-Americans and Wilson and Rivers are the Crimson Tide's first since Shelly Adamcik in 2001. Besides Wilson, Rivers and Adamcik, the only other Academic All-American in program history was Michelle Green in 2000.
This season, Alabama is the only school in the Southeastern Conference with any Academic All-Americans and is just one of two schools in the `Power Five' conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) to place a student-athlete on the First Team, along with Washington's Krista Vansant, who was named the Academic All-American of the Year.
Wilson, a native of Anaheim, Calif., owns a 4.0 GPA as an English and Political Science major and is the only junior on the First Team and one of just four Academic All-Americans who are not seniors. Wilson set a new Alabama single-season record in 2014 with 1,529 assists, becoming the first player in school history with over 1,500 assists in a single-season. She led the SEC in assists and ranked among the top ten nationally in the category for the majority of the season as well. The record season brings her career total to 4,272, which is third all-time at Alabama. With one season remaining at Alabama, she is just 61 shy of Jennifer Miller (1989-92) in second place and 1,306 shy of Brigitte Slack's (2004-07) record total.
Rivers owns a 3.98 GPA as a Biology major and is the only sophomore on the entire list. The Birmingham, Ala., native led the team and the SEC with 557 kills (4.19/set) and was second on the team with a .290 hitting percentage. Her 557 kills rank eighth all-time at Alabama and makes her the first player with over 500 kills in a season since Erin Heffner in 2004. Rivers was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week three times during the season and earned a spot on the All-SEC team.
FIRST TEAM
| Name | School | Year | Hometown | GPA | Major |
| Jill Briner | Eastern Michigan | Sr. | Oak Park, Ill. | 4.00 | Accounting |
| Annika Foit | LIU Brooklyn | Sr. | Hausach, Germany | 3.95 | Biology |
| Lauren Ford | Lipscomb | Sr. | Lenexa, Kan. | 3.96 | Exercise Science |
| Krista Vansant | Washington | Sr. | Redlands, Wash. | 3.30 | Sociology |
| Meg Riley | Miami (Ohio) | Sr. | St. Louis, Mo. | 3.97 | Mechanical Engineering |
| Sierra Wilson | Alabama | Jr. | Anaheim, Calif. | 4.00 | English/Political Science |
SECOND TEAM
| Name | School | Year | Hometown | GPA | Major |
| Avery Acker | SMU | Jr. | Poth, Texas | 3.95 | Business/Accounting |
| Jordan Burgess | Stanford | Jr. | Fort Meyers, Calif. | 3.53 | Human Biology |
| Kym Coley | Georgia Southern | Sr. | Aiken, S.C. | 4.00 | Biology |
| Anna Dorn | Illinois | Sr. | Munster, Ind. | 3.96 | Kinesiology |
| Paige Holland | Stephen F. Austin | Sr. | Magnolia, Texas | 3.97 | Interdisciplinary Studies |
| Savanah Leaf | Miami (Fla.) | Sr. | San Anselmo, Calif. | 3.89 | Psychology |
THIRD TEAM
| Name | School | Year | Hometown | GPA | Major |
| Emma Deininger | Radford | Sr. | Wallingford, Pa. | 3.91 | Accounting and Finance |
| Kalynn Egea | Nicholls State | Sr. | Peoria, Ariz. | 4.00 | Inderdisciplinary Studies |
| Valerie El Houssine | Tulsa | Sr. | Longchamps, Belgium | 4.00 | Management |
| Karsta Lowe | UCLA | Sr. | Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. | 3.35 | Geography/Environmental Studies |
| Krystal Rivers | Alabama | So. | Birmingham, Ala. | 3.98 | Biology |
| Monika Smidova | American | Sr. | Plzen, Czech Republic | 3.82 | Business Administration |
