Two Wildcats earn academic honor
11/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Martin, Bernhardt earn academic honors
ACU seniors named to ESPN academic all-America squad
ABILENE -- The awards continue to roll in for ACU seniors Lindsey Martin and Michelle Bernhardt, two of the key cogs in the best volleyball season in program history.
Martin and Bernhardt - fresh off being named all-America players by the American Volleyball Coaches' Association on Monday - were named academic all-America players on Wednesday by ESPN The Magazine. Martin was a second team selection, while Bernhardt was a third team pick.
Martin and Bernhardt are only the second and third ACU volleyball players to ever be named academic all-America, joining Cathe Crow who was honored in 1992.
The Wildcats finished the season 31-4 and ranked No. 11 in the nation. ACU won its second straight Lone Star Conference championship in 2005, and its school-record 31-match winning streak was snapped by No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 20 in the NCAA II Southwest Region Tournament hampionship match.
Martin carries a 3.97 grade point average while majoring in exercise science, while Bernhardt carries a 3.77 grade point average with a major of engineering science. Earlier this month, both players were voted first team academic all-District VI making them eligible for academic all-America honors.
Martin finished her career with 5,793 assists, which is good for 19th on the all-time NCAA Division II list and second in LSC history. She passed former Texas Woman's setter Sarah Steinmetz (5,790 career assists) in both categories in the match against Kearney. Martin is far and away the all-time assist leader in ACU history with almost 1,500 more assists than previousrecord-holder Brittney Binder (ACU head coach Brek Horn's younger sister), who had 4,296 assists from 1996-99.
Bernhardt finished her career with 2,128 kills, which is 21st on the NCAA Division II career list, second on the all-time Lone Star Conference list and first in ACU history. Kearney's all-America middle blocker, Gudmundson, heads to the national tournament with 2,131 career kills, which is 19th on the all-time list. Bernhardt finished seventh on the Division II career list for total attacks with 5,451, and she finished in the top 20 all-time in kills per game at 4.41. Bernhardt also finished fourth on ACU's all-time digs list with 1,501.
