BERKELEY – Cal junior libero Maddy Kerr was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic First Team on Wednesday, becoming just the second Cal volleyball student-athlete ever to earn the honor.
Kerr has a cumulative GPA of 3.72 while double majoring in Media Studies and Rhetoric. She is one of seven student-athletes to be named to the First Team.
Senior middle blocker Lara Vukasovic, junior setter Alyssa Jensen and junior defensive specialist Sabrina Blackwell each earned honorable mention.
Kerr joins former standout libero Robin Rostratter as the only Cal volleyball student-athletes to earn Pac-12 All-Academic First Team honors. Rostratter received the recognition in 2011.
“Maddy goes for perfection in everything she does,” Cal coach Rich Feller said. “I'm not at all surprised to see those kinds of marks. She was a great student coming into Cal. She's an intelligent person who knows how to work hard.”
It is the third straight Pac-12 All-Academic honor for Vukasovic while Kerr and Jensen have earned the recognition for the second consecutive year. Blackwell got the nod for the first time in her career.
To be eligible for recognition, student-athletes had to have a minimum GPA of 3.0 and play in at least 50 percent of the team's matches.
“Academics are always at the top of our list of priorities,” Feller said. “It just shows the meaning of being a true student-athlete. Things that go on the sport court and the classroom have to be balanced. It's part of the culture we always strive to have.”
The Bears visit No. 6 Stanford tonight (8 p.m., Pac-12 Bay Area) before closing out the 2015 season at No. 1 USC on Friday (4 p.m., Pac-12 Network).