Moon Township, Pa. – Whitney Brown, a junior setter on the Robert Morris University volleyball team, has been named to the Academic All-America Second Team, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Monday.
Brown is the third female student-athlete in Robert Morris history to earn Academic All-America recognition, and the second volleyball player (Amanda Graham, 2010). She joins Brad Banas (2012, Football), Annie Dubovec (2011, Softball), Nick Faraci (2015, Football), Ray Gensler (2005-06, Football), Graham, Jonathan LeDonne (2004, Football), Christian Lemke (2004, Men's Track & Field), Zac Lynch (2014 & 2016, Men's Ice Hockey), Nolan Nearhoof (2010-12, Football), and Adam Wollet (2017-18, Football) as the 11th different Colonial student-athlete to receive Academic All-America designation.
RELEASE: 2019 Academic All-America NCAA Division I Volleyball Teams Announced
"It's such an honor to be named to an Academic All-American team," said Brown. "I'm honestly still a little surprised! I feel so grateful to my teammates, coaches, friends, and parents who have helped me succeed academically and athletically – I could not be where I am today without them."
"This is a tremendous honor for Whitney," added RMU head coach Dale Starr. "She is very deserving of this award, not only for her talents on the floor, but even more so for her talents in the classroom and as a leader on our team. We're very proud of what she has done for our program and I'm thrilled to see her recognized for this award. I believe that she is the first female in RMU history to win this award before her senior year, which says even more about what she has accomplished here in a relatively short time. We couldn't be more proud of Whitney."
A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District II selection, the Pittsburgh native carries a perfect 4.00 grade point average while majoring in biology at Robert Morris. She, along with her teammates, helped the Colonials capture their second consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) Team GPA Award in 2018-19, as the group's 3.846 mark topped all other varsity teams in the league.
Brown enjoyed a stellar junior campaign, collecting All-NEC Second Team honors while quarterbacking RMU to a 25-5 record and the NEC regular-season championship. The Avonworth High School alumna paced the conference in assists per set (10.06) and ranks 70th nationally in that category. She also averaged 2.40 digs and 0.68 blocks per set, and twice was named Molten/NEC Player of the Week. Her 11 double-doubles this season led the team.
In the career ranks, Brown slots eighth in assists with 1,879 and needs 506 in 2019 to break into the top five. She established new career bests in helpers (905), digs (216), and blocks (61) this season.
Brown is one of four junior student-athletes to be named to one of the three CoSIDA Academic All-America teams, joining Sydney Hilley of Wisconsin, Meghan McClure of Stanford, and Camryn Allen of Towson.
Previously, Brown became the sixth different player in program history to be recognized twice on the CoSIDA Academic All-District II Team, adding her name to a list alongside Alaina Gibson (2007, 2008), Amanda Graham (2008, 2009, 2010), Lisa Jaszka (2005, 2006), Janette Schneider (2005, 2006), and April Krivoniak (2015, 2016).
RELATED: Brown Earns Second Straight CoSIDA Academic All-District Honor
Robert Morris finished the 2019 season with its third most victories (25) and a program-record 15 NEC wins. The Colonials captured their seventh regular-season conference title and first in 11 years, and are slated to return their entire team in 2020 – highlighted by the All-NEC junior trio of Maria Alfano, Brown, and Emma Granger.
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