ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team
TOWSON, Md. - The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced today that Southwest Minnesota State senior
Sara Graf has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team in the College Division.
To be eligible for the national team, a student athlete had to have been selected to its District’s first team. Initial nomination criteria at the District level includes being a varsity starter or key reserve, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, reaching sophomore athletic and academic standing at his current institution and be nominated by their sports information director.
Graf, a native of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, boasts a 3.93 grade point average as an accounting major. Graf collected her third selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V Team earlier this season; she was a first-team honoree in 2008 and 2009 and third-team selection in 2007.
Graf is just the ninth athlete in school history and first from the volleyball program to achieve Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA.
The setter finished her career at SMSU as the school’s all-time leader in assists with 4,348. Graf also holds the school record for assists in a single season (1,671 in 2007) and assists per set in a single season (13.48 in 2007). She also set a single-match record when she recorded 73 assists against Minnesota State Moorhead on Oct. 3, 2008.
SMSU finished the 2009 season 25-8 (15-5 NSIC) and made its sixth straight and seventh overall NCAA tournament appearance.