University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Gray, Lund Earn CoSIDA Academic All-America® Honors
12/15/2021 12:00:00 PM | Volleyball
Middle Blocker, Outside Hitter Earn Prestigious Academic Honors
PITTSBURGH – Middle blocker Serena Gray and outside hitter Kayla Lund of the 2021 NCAA National Semifinal-bound Pitt volleyball team (30-3, 15-3 ACC) have been named 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-America® selections, as announced Wednesday afternoon.
The pair of Panthers became the third and fourth volleyball selections in Pitt history, following Judy Young (1983, 1985) and Meagan Dooley (2009).
Gray was named to the First Team and is the second Panther ever to earn a First Team selection, after Dooley in 2009. Lund made the Third Team, and is the second to do so after Young in 1983.
The 2021 Academic All-America® Volleyball Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field or court and in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-America® program separately recognizes volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and the NAIA.
Eight of the 21 members of the 2021 Academic All-America® Division I volleyball team boast a perfect 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate work or graduate school. The 10 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.87.
Gray is a graduate transfer from Penn State, where she was selected to represent the College of Liberal Arts as the student marshal for the Nittany Lions' summer commencement in 2021. The Temple City, Calif., native earned her bachelor's degree in psychology with an undergraduate cumulative grade point average of 3.95 in psychology. She is currently in her first semester of graduate school studying applied developmental psychology at Pitt.
As a student-athlete at Penn State, Gray was a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Honorable Mention in 2018 and 2019 and earned a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 2019. This season, Gray leads the Panthers with a hitting percentage of .415, ranking second in the ACC, in addition to a team-best 42 service aces on the year. She averages 2.12 kills and 1.08 blocks per frame from the middle.
A Top 10 finalist for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award, Lund is a three-time member of the All-ACC Academic Team. She earned her bachelor's degree in communication and psychology from Pitt in December 2020 and immediately began pursuing her masters' in applied developmental psychology in the spring of 2021. She holds a 4.00 cumulative GPA in her graduate program.
A native of Pasadena, Calif., Lund is the ACC's only two-time Volleyball Player of the Year (2019, 2020). This season she became Pitt's first ever AVCA All-America First Team selection, as announced Wednesday. She is a two-time AVCA All-America Second Team selection (2019, 2020) and has landed on the All-ACC First Team four times (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). This season, Lund averages 3.04 kills and 2.26 digs per frame for the Panthers. Her name is etched on the Varsity Walk on campus as a winner of the Panther Award, which is the highest athletic honor for a student-athlete at Pitt.
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The pair of Panthers became the third and fourth volleyball selections in Pitt history, following Judy Young (1983, 1985) and Meagan Dooley (2009).
Gray was named to the First Team and is the second Panther ever to earn a First Team selection, after Dooley in 2009. Lund made the Third Team, and is the second to do so after Young in 1983.
The 2021 Academic All-America® Volleyball Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field or court and in the classroom. The CoSIDA Academic All-America® program separately recognizes volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and the NAIA.
Eight of the 21 members of the 2021 Academic All-America® Division I volleyball team boast a perfect 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate work or graduate school. The 10 members of the first team have an average GPA of 3.87.
Gray is a graduate transfer from Penn State, where she was selected to represent the College of Liberal Arts as the student marshal for the Nittany Lions' summer commencement in 2021. The Temple City, Calif., native earned her bachelor's degree in psychology with an undergraduate cumulative grade point average of 3.95 in psychology. She is currently in her first semester of graduate school studying applied developmental psychology at Pitt.
As a student-athlete at Penn State, Gray was a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Honorable Mention in 2018 and 2019 and earned a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 2019. This season, Gray leads the Panthers with a hitting percentage of .415, ranking second in the ACC, in addition to a team-best 42 service aces on the year. She averages 2.12 kills and 1.08 blocks per frame from the middle.
A Top 10 finalist for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award, Lund is a three-time member of the All-ACC Academic Team. She earned her bachelor's degree in communication and psychology from Pitt in December 2020 and immediately began pursuing her masters' in applied developmental psychology in the spring of 2021. She holds a 4.00 cumulative GPA in her graduate program.
A native of Pasadena, Calif., Lund is the ACC's only two-time Volleyball Player of the Year (2019, 2020). This season she became Pitt's first ever AVCA All-America First Team selection, as announced Wednesday. She is a two-time AVCA All-America Second Team selection (2019, 2020) and has landed on the All-ACC First Team four times (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). This season, Lund averages 3.04 kills and 2.26 digs per frame for the Panthers. Her name is etched on the Varsity Walk on campus as a winner of the Panther Award, which is the highest athletic honor for a student-athlete at Pitt.
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