Northern Arizona University volleyball junior outside hitter Lauren Campbell has been named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Volleyball third team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Campbell graduated from Kentwood High and lived in Covington.
She is the first NAU volleyball player in program history to earn All-America honors and the 27th all-time NAU student athlete to receive the prestigious academic honor.
“I’m really excited and it feels like all my hard work has paid off,” said Campbell. “I never thought this would happen and it feels great. You need to have your priorities straight in being a student-athlete and keep focused on school. It feels great to be rewarded for my efforts!”
Campbell was the only selection from the Big Sky Conference and one of only 18 total NCAA Division-I volleyball student-athletes selected for the All-America teams. She is the second NAU student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors this season after football senior long snapper Ben Bachelier received a second team All-America selection last week.
Campbell has been an Academic All-District Eight first team selection in each of the last-two seasons. She has a perfect 4.00 GPA at NAU majoring in mechanical engineering, and is a two-time Big Sky All-Academic selection and Golden Eagle Scholar Athlete award recipient. A native of Covington, Wash., Campbell considered Ivy League schools Cornell and Columbia among other schools during the recruiting process before choosing Northern Arizona and joining the Lumberjacks as a freshman in 2009.
This season, Campbell helped NAU break a program record with a 12-0 start with only two teams in NCAA Division-I remaining undefeated longer than the Lumberjacks. She finished fourth on the team with 2.25 kills per set while adding 54 digs and 15 blocks on the season. Appearing in 18 matches and 61 sets, Campbell totaled five matches with double-digit kills. She recorded a career-best 21 kills on a .360 hitting percentage in NAU’s home win over Sacramento State on Oct. 29, followed by a 17 kill performance in NAU’s next match against Eastern Washington. She also had 13 kills on a career-best .448 hitting percentage to lead NAU to win at Sacramento State, the team’s first ever victory in the Hornets Nest.
NAU has now had multiple student-athletes receive Academic All-America honors in each of the last-three years.
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