Nov. 6, 2008

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. – (Thursday, November 6, 2008) – Junior Molly Davis today was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII First Team for her achievements on the court and in the classroom. This is the first time Davis has been honored with this prestigious award and is the first Redhawks volleyball player to achieve this honor since Pam Kirsch was named All-District in 1992.

Davis, the team’s starting libero since her freshman season, currently holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average in Sports Management currently leads the team and ranks fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference in digs with an average of 4.49 digs per set. Her 359 digs this season has moved her into third-place on the school’s career digs charts with 1,536 just behind Jill Stephens (1,627 digs) and Leslie Caughman (1,637 digs). Davis is the school’s all-time leader in digs at the NCAA Division I level.

The Muncie, Indiana native also owns the Redhawks D-I single season record for digs with 637 set last season. That mark stands as third-best on the all-time single season charts. Her 540 digs that she recorded during her freshman campaign is tied for ninth on the school’s single season charts.

Davis has recorded double digits in digs in 81 of her 87 career matches she has played in as a Redhawk. She is currently riding a 15-game streak of recording double-digit digs. Earlier this season she set a new career-high with 35 digs against Western Illinois at the Hampton Inn Saluki Invitational. For her efforts she was named to the All-Invitational Team as well as garnering her first career OVC Defensive Player of the Week award.

Academically she was named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll last season and was a recipient of the OVC's highest academic award, the OVC Medal of Honor. She is also a two-time Southeast Scholar-Athlete honoree.

Davis is just one of only three volleyball players in the OVC to be named to an All-District First Team joining OVC first-year member Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville’s Mallory Clemenst and Samantha Schulte who were named to the District V First Team.

To be eligible for the COSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

Players named to the COSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Teams will have their names forwarded on to the ballot for COSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America consideration.