Dec. 21, 2007

FRISCO, Texas - The 2007 Southland Conference All-Academic Team were announced on Friday with three Ladyjacks - Traci Rohde, Lauren Railey and Shelly Swendig - all finding their way onto the first team.

The All-Academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators from each SLC university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.00 cumulative grade point average, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

For Rohde, it marks her third appearance on the all-academic first team after another all-conference caliber season. The senior communications disorders major was one of only two players on this year's SLC All-Academic team to have made the squad three separate times, and closed out her career as a Ladyjack by helping lead SFA to its fourth consecutive SLC title. Rohde finished ranked second in the SLC in hitting percentage with a .375 clip and also finished in the conference top 10 in both kills and blocks while hitting double-figures in kills in 19 matches.

Along the way she would also become only the third Ladyjack to ever accumulate 1,000 kills and 400 blocks in her career while finishing her career ranked first at SFA in block assists, second in total blocks (483), ninth in service aces (140) and eighth in kills (1,300).

Railey makes her second appearance on the squad after an outstanding junior campaign that saw the pre-veterinary medicine major earn first team All-SLC honors for the first time. She led SFA in kills, attacks and service aces while also earning all-tournament honors at the SLC Tournament as well as at the season-opening Bluejay Invitational.

The McKinney, Texas, native tallied at least 10 kills in a team-best 21 of the Ladyjacks' 35 matches on the year that included a 20-kill performance in a three-game win over UT-San Antonio. That performance tied her with Rohde for the most single-match kills on the team for the year.

Her 14 double-doubles was the most on the team and she finished the year ranked in the top 10 in the SLC in kills, attack percentage and service aces in conference play. Through only three years she has already become one of only five Ladyjacks ever to total 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career. She will enter her senior year already ranking in the school's top 10 all-time in each of those categories.

For Swendig, this is the first time she has been named to the Academic All-SLC squad after earning honorable mention all-conference honors as a sophomore in 2006. The junior was one of the most consistent forces for the Ladyjacks this season, tallying double-digit kills 17 times, including a season-best 17 kills in the SLC Tournament title match against Texas State.

A political science major, Swendig finished third on the team in kills behind only Rohde and Railey, and also dished out 60 assists on the season - the most by any non-setter on SFA's roster. She opened up the season with one of her two double-doubles for the year - a 13-kill, 19-dig performance in a win over Montana State - and saw only 12 of 35 matches in which she hit under .200 from her outside hitter slot.

For the complete Southland Conference All-Academic Team, visit www.southland.org.

-SFA-