Kristin Hoffman, Allison McGlaughlin and Lauren Wicinski
Northern Illinois volleyball seniors Kristin Hoffman (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) and Allison McGlaughlin (Morton, Ill./Morton) and sophomore Lauren Wicinski (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) earned Capital One Academic All-District 5 recognition, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday.
Both Hoffman and McGlaughlin were named to the first team, while Wicinski garnered a second team selection.
Last season, the senior duo accomplished the feat to give NIU two selections for the first time.
A year later, a trio of Huskies made NIU one of four Division I schools to have three honorees (Tennessee Martin, Dayton, Northern Iowa). Among the league, Miami (Ohio) is the only other Mid-American Conference school with a representative on the scholarly list.
“I’m very happy for and proud of Kristin, Allison, and Lauren,” said NIU head coach Ray Gooden, who has coached all seven of NIU’s all-time selections.
“This is great recognition for the NIU volleyball program. Our mission is to produce champions in the classroom, on the court, and in the community, and an honor like this reflects two of the three,” Gooden added. “Balancing class and volleyball is not easy. For these three to do it at a high level like they do and get recognized like this for their hard work, it’s really nice to see.”
Hoffman, who is a history major with a 3.97 grade point average, earned a first team selection in 2010 as well and went on to become the program’s first Academic All-American. The setter of one of the top five offenses in the country leads the nation in assists (12.42/set) and became only the third Huskie to reach 4,000 career assists last week.
An elementary education major with a 3.96 GPA, McGlaughlin was a first team choice last year, too. The outside hitter ranks second on the team with 2.93 kills per set for an offense that leads the nation in kills. She also ranks second on the team in digs (2.82/set) and notched her 1,000th career dig three weeks ago to become just the ninth player in NIU history to tally over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. McGlaughlin currently ranks fifth at NIU in kills (1,370) and 11th in digs (1,053).
Wicinski, an education major with a 3.41 GPA, earned her first career selection as she leads the country in points (6.42/set) and kills (5.53/set), and ranks third in aces (0.61/set). On Oct. 6, the 2010 MAC Player and Freshman of the Year became the fastest in league history to reach 1,000 career kills. Wicinski has been chosen as the MAC West Division Offensive Player of the Week four times this season and was named one of 11 Top Performers for the week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2 by Collegiate Volleyball Update (CVU.com).
For more information on NIU volleyball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
