FRISCO, Texas – Sam Houston’s Ashley Lewis is the Southland Conference Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Tuesday alongside the Southland Academic All-Conference rosters. Southland yearly awards are presented by
Ready Nutrition.
Lewis rounded out an impressive senior campaign for the Bearkats in which she was named the Southland Volleyball Player of the Year and a first team all-conference selection. She finished the season ranked fifth in the nation for attacks per set (13.32), 22nd nationally for points per set (4.97) and 23rd in the NCAA for kills per set (4.36). Lewis was tabbed an AVCA All-Southwest Region Honorable Mention honoree in addition to being named AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. The Houston, Texas, native holds a 3.94 GPA as a finance and marketing major.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi leads the way among the academic all-conference rosters with four selections, followed by Sam Houston’s three honorees. UCA boasts two roster spots, while Abilene Christian, UIW, McNeese, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin round out the squads with one selection apiece.
Including Lewis, six student-athletes were named automatic selections after garnering first team all-conference honors. Four student-athletes make a repeat appearance on the academic rosters, including Sam Houston’s Lewis and Breanne Chausse, Central Arkansas’ Bailey Waddington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Rachel Young. Five of the 14 members of the academic teams currently hold a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The Student-Athlete of the Year award is selected by the Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13-member universities. The Southland Student-Athlete of the Year award is presented to the one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each Southland Conference institution. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition in order to qualify for the all-academic squad.
First Team All-Conference student-athletes who meet all-academic nomination criteria are automatically named First Team All-Academic honorees.
2020 Southland Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year: Ashley Lewis, Sam Houston
2020 Southland Conference Academic All-Conference Teams
First Team
| Name |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| Kate Mueller1 |
Abilene Christian |
Sr. |
Sugar Land, Texas |
3.66 |
Nursing |
| Bailey Waddington3 |
Central Arkansas |
Sr. |
San Angelo, Texas |
4.0 |
Biology |
| Bethany Clapp1 |
UIW |
Jr. |
Corpus Christi, Texas |
3.83 |
Rehabilitative Sciences |
| Ashley Lewis^,1,2 |
Sam Houston |
Sr. |
Houston, Texas |
3.94 |
Finance & Marketing |
| Taya Mitchell1 |
Stephen F. Austin |
Sr. |
Rowlett, Texas |
3.30 |
Psychology |
| Carissa Barnes1 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
So. |
Weatherford, Texas |
3.84 |
Kinesiology – Pre-Allied Health |
| Faith Panhans1 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
So. |
Plano, Texas |
4.0 |
Elementary Education |
Second Team
| Name |
School |
Cl. |
Hometown |
GPA |
Major |
| Madi Bowles |
Central Arkansas |
Jr. |
Strafford, Mo. |
4.0 |
Exercise Science |
| Regan Stiawalt |
McNeese |
Jr. |
Ness City, Kan. |
3.59 |
Nursing |
| Haley Hoang |
Northwestern State |
So. |
Plano, Texas |
4.0 |
Business |
| Breanne Chausse2 |
Sam Houston |
Jr. |
Coppell, Texas |
3.96 |
Banking & Finance |
| Morgan Janda |
Sam Houston |
So. |
Katy, Texas |
3.95 |
Accounting |
| Chloe Simon |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
Katy, Texas |
3.78 |
Communication Studies |
| Rachel Young2 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
Jr. |
Frisco, Texas |
4.0 |
Finance |
^2020 Southland Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year
1First Team All-Conference selection
2Two-time all-academic selection
3Three-time all-academic selection