DALLAS, Texas -- WKU Volleyball's Callie Bauer, Paige Briggs, and Katie Isenbarger were all voted to the Conference USA 2022 All-Academic Team the league office announced Friday. Briggs and Isenbarger have both earned the recognition back-to-back seasons now -- Briggs with her third award -- while, redshirt freshman Bauer posts her first title as the starting setter for the Red and White.
With the three WKU players on the conference team, WKU owns the most spots of the 11-member team, with UTEP and Charlotte dawning two players apiece. With Bauer's, Briggs', and Isenbarger's accolades, the Hilltoppers have now had at least one honoree in all nine seasons in Conference USA. WKU Volleyball has had 13 student-athletes earn a spot on the All-Academic Team in that span.Â
All athletes that were nominated were selected by a combination of academic and athletic accomplishments.Â
Bauer, playing her first full season for the Tops as the leading setter, has risen to a 3.79 GPA in marketing along with a graphic design minor in her four semesters on The Hill. As a regular on both the Dean's and President's List at WKU, Bauer was named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and earned the Academic Medal in Fall of 2021. Playing in every single set thus far this season, Bauer leads the conference in assists and averages 11.03 assists per set. At one point on the year, the Hudson, Michigan native was ranked fifth in the nation in total assists, while also carrying out WKU's first triple-double since 2009 against North Kentucky (10k, 39a, 10d) back on September 8.
Briggs is a six-rotation outside hitter for the Red and White that owns a 3.96 GPA. In addition to her visual studies major, the Ortonville, Mich. native is minoring in graphic design and entrepreneurship. She's started all 89 sets for WKU while tallying 3.84Â kills per set on a .349Â hitting percentage along with 2.31Â digs per set while adding 31 aces and 43 blocks. Additionally, Briggs has earned a spot on WKU's President's List all six semesters, while recording her 1,000th career kill and 1000th career dig this season on The Hill.
Isenbarger, a middle hitter out of Zionsville, Ind., earned her bachelor's degree in sports management last year and is working towards her MBA in recreation and sport administration with a 4.0 GPA. She's appeared in every set for WKU this season while striking for 109 kills (1.60 per set) and a .345 hitting percentage while averaging 1.18 blocks per set and adding 53 digs and 17 aces. Isenbarger has earned a spot on the WKU's President's List seven of her eight semesters on The Hill along with earning Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal and Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll every year since coming to WKU.
The all-academic trio has helped the Hilltoppers to a 25-2 overall record on the 2022 fall campaign including the C-USA regular season championship with a 14-0 mark in conference play. Their stellar play has helped WKU to a national ranking all season as well as top-five rankings in team hitting percentage (.322) and winning percentage (.926) in all of NCAA Volleyball.
2022 Volleyball All-Academic Team
Emani' Foster, Charlotte, Jr., 4.0, Psychology with a minor in Biology Â
Annika Wetterstrom, Charlotte, Sr., 3.72, Psychology with a minor in Public Health Â
Athina Dimitriadis, FIU, Sr., 4.0, International Business Â
Noelle Stephens, Florida Atlantic, So., 3.94, Psychology Â
Taylor Eisert, Middle Tennessee, Jr., 4.0, Business Administration Â
Alex Kells, UAB, Gr., 3.55, MBA in Business Administration Â
Hula Crisostomo, UTEP, R-Sr., 4.0, Psychology Â
Hande Yetis, UTEP, Jr., 3.69, Industrial and Systems Engineering Â
Callie Bauer, WKU, R-Fr., 3.79, Marketing with a minor in Graphic Design Â
Paige Briggs, WKU, Sr., 3.93, Visual Studies with minors in Graphic Design and Entrepreneurship
Katie Isenbarger, WKU, 5Sr., 4.0, MBA in Recreation and Sport Administration
How to Follow WKU Volleyball: For complete information on WKU Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUVolleyball and head coach Travis Hudson at @TravisHudsonWKU. The team is also on Instagram and Facebook.
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