BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Lauren Cuyler was one of 21 student-athletes named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-America Women’s Volleyball team, it was announced on Thursday.
A May 2002 magna cum laude management degree graduate with a 3.80 undergraduate grade point average, she was named to the academic All-America third team. Athletes named to the first, second and third teams were selected from the eight all-district teams by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Cuyler is currently pursing her graduate degree in LSU’s prestigious MBA program. A three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, she was also the 2001 LSU Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
The fifth-year senior returned for her final season as a Tiger after undergoing two previous shoulder surgeries while at LSU. Before being forced to miss 10 of the last 12 matches due to continuing shoulder problems, she led the team in hitting percentage and ranked seventh in the Southeastern Conference in that category.
The middle blocker from Slidell also ranked third on the team in total blocks and blocks per game while improving to second on the team in blocks and blocks per game in league matches. She completed her career ranked 14th in LSU history in career kills, just 26 away from the 1,000-kill milestone.
In 2000 and 2001, Cuyler was named to the All-SEC Second Team and was a second-team All-Louisiana selection in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Leading the Tigers to the SEC Tournament championship game in 2000 by dominating Georgia in the semifinals with 10 blocks and 13 kills, she was named to the All-Tournament team. In her first season as an outside hitter, she became the only freshman in Tiger history to lead the team in kills.
Cuyler is one of two players from the SEC on the team. Libby Windell of Arkansas was named to the first team. They are the only two members representing District VI to make the All-America team.
2002 Verizon Academic All-America Team
First Team
Lauren Fendrick UCLA Senior 3.91 Cognitive Science & Comm.
Birtten Follett Southern Illinois Senior 4.00 Radio & Television
Karla Kucerkova American Senior 3.98 Business Administration
Laura Pilakowski Nebraska Senior 3.95 Marketing
Jennifer Pritchard Winthrop Senior 4.00 Biology (Pre-med)
Libby Windell Arkansas Senior 3.96 Microbiology
Second Team
Jill Arganbright Northern Iowa Junior 3.98 Biology & Chemistry
Paige Benjamin Washington Senior 3.84 Accounting
Elizabeth Gower Colorado Senior 3.94 Chemical Engineering
Natalie Hand American Junior 4.00 Middle East Affairs
Amber Holmquist Nebraska Senior 3.74 Communication Disorders
Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan Pennsylvania Junior 3.98 Communications
Heather Wollyung Quinnipiac Senior 3.98 Biology (Pre-med)
Third Team
Isabell Anderer Marshall Junior 4.00 Business
Crystal Brim Campbell Senior 4.00 Spanish
Cassie Busse Minnesota Junior 3.76 Family Social Science
Lauren Cuyler LSU Graduate 3.80 Management
Julie DuPont Cincinnati Sophomore 3.93 Communication Studies
Cal Jensen Kansas State Junior 3.96 Kinesiology
Ogonna Nnamani Stanford Sophomore 3.67 Biology
Stefanie Rewintz Hofstra Senior 3.74 International Business
Verizon Academic All-America of the Year: Karla Kucerkova, American