December 15, 1998
RICKARDS NAMED GTE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA® OF THE YEAR
BETHLEHEM, PA --- Senior middle hitter Stephanie Rickards (Lansdowne/Upper Darby HS) of
the Moravian College womens volleyball team has been named to the 1998 GTE Academic
All-America® First Team College Division selected by the College Sports Information
Directors of America. She was also named the GTE Academic All-America® of the Year
for the College Division, the first Moravian student-athlete ever to win the honor.
The College Division is made up of all the NCAA Division II and III Schools in the nation
as well as all NAIA schools. Student-athletes from NCAA Division I schools are named to
the University Division Teams.
Rickards, who maintains a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in Secondary Education/English,
has also been named to the Middle Atlantic Conference Womens Volleyball Commonwealth
League All-Star First Team, the MAC All-Academic Team and the American Volleyball Coaches
Association Mid-Atlantic All-Region Team for the second consecutive year this fall.
Rickards completed the season with a .368 hitting percentage along with a school record
468 kills and 125 blocks to lead the Lady Greyhounds to a 27-7 overall record and the schools
second straight appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs. She also had 276 digs and
38 service aces.
By earning first team GTE/CoSIDA College Division Academic All-District honors for the
third consecutive year in late November, Rickards was forwarded to the national ballot.
In 1997, she was named to the GTE Academic All-America® Second Team for the college
division. To be eligible for GTE Academic All-America® accolades, a student-athlete
must maintain at least a 3.20 grade-point average, be a sophomore, junior or senior and
be a starter or significant reserve.
Rickards is currently playing forward for the Lady Greyhound womens basketball squad.
She is averaging 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game. She has made three starts
for the 4-2 Lady Hounds and had career-highs with 15 points and five steals in the
teams 71-64 victory at Albright College on December 9th.
Rickards is the 11th Moravian athlete to be named GTE Academic All-America® Teams.
There have been a total of 15 Academic All-Americans at Moravian including 10 over the
past six years.
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