June 11, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State men's volleyball sophomore middle hitter Max Lipsitz (Williamsville, N.Y.) has been named an ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-American, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced.
It is the first career honor for Lipsitz and the eighth for a Nittany Lion men's volleyball player, with Keith Kowal last earning the honor in 2005. He is the fifth Penn State student-athlete to garner the honor this school year and becomes the 134th Nittany Lion all-time to be recognized.
Lipsitz, who holds a 3.51 grade point average in finance, was also named a Second Team AVCA All-American and was picked for the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. An Academic All-East selection and member of the national-champion men's volleyball squad that finished the season with a 31-1 overall record, Lipsitz finished third in the nation with a .499 hitting percentage while averaging 2.45 kills per game and 1.17 blocks per game. Lipsitz started every match for the Nittany Lions at middle hitter and recorded a career-high 17 kills on .500 hitting in the National Championship match against Pepperdine. He posted a career-high 12 blocks in the NCAA National Semifinal win over Ohio State on May 1, also boasting 10 double-digit kill matches for the year and having at least one block in 30 of 31 matches.
The Men's At-Large program for the Academic All-America program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Lipsitz was one of only three sophomores to be named to the three Academic All-America squads, which totaled 48 total men's student-athletes across the nation in the listed Division I at-large sports.
To be eligible, 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 current institution and be nominated by his sports information/athletic communications 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.
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