December 1, 2009

MIT's Alex May Earns Women's Volleyball Academic All-America Honors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Alex May made history for the MIT women's volleyball program by being voted to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Volleyball First Team. With her selection, May became the first player in the program's history to earn multiple Academic All-America accolades as she was a Third-Team pick last year. In addition, May is only the second person to represent the Engineers on the First Team; former teammate Amanda Morris '08 accomplished this feat in 2007.

The senior outside hitter collected the program's 14th award and raised MIT's institutional tally to 158, maintaining its position as the leader among Division III programs. Of the six athletes from District I that moved on to the national ballot, May was the region's lone representative on the national team. District I, which is the largest pool in the awards program, is comprised of all NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA, and two-year institutions located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Quebec.

May closed her career ranking in the top 10 for kills in a season, career kills, kills per game, digs, digs per game, and total blocks. She was named the Rookie of the Year by the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) and the New England Women's Volleyball Association (NEWVA), and was the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) New England Rookie of the Year. May was a three-time AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, NEWMAC All-Conference, NEWMAC Academic All-Conference, and NEWVA All-New England award winner. She also picked a pair of AVCA All-New England selections during her time with the Engineers.