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IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior volleyball student-athlete Molly Kelly has been named the 2018 Google Cloud Division I Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for volleyball, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced Monday.
Kelly is Iowa’s fifth Academic All-American, second consecutive first-team honoree (Olsen, 2017), and first Team Member of the Year.
“We are so proud of Molly’s achievements as a student-athlete,” UI head coach Bond Shymansky said. “She put in so much work on and off the court to become her best as a Hawkeye, and we know that she will impact the world in the future.”
The West Liberty, Iowa, native is a two-time academic All-Big Ten honoree, 2017-18 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, and 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. Kelly holds a 4.06 grade point average (GPA) and is majoring in international and religious studies. Kelly was named Iowa’s Big Ten sportsmanship award winner in 2018.
On the court, Kelly led the Big Ten in total digs (619) and digs per set (5.12), ranking 23rd and 40th, nationally, in both categories. Kelly’s 619 digs are an Iowa single-season record. She is the only player in program history to reach 600 digs in a single season. In addition, Kelly set the program record for digs in a three-set match with 27 on Oct. 19. On Nov. 23, Kelly etched herself in Iowa’s record book again, recording 34 digs to tie for fifth in program history for digs in a single-match.
Kelly played in 128 career games, including 43 starts. She accumulated 1,125 career digs, 111 assists, and averaged 2.52 digs per set. Kelly ranks 11th in the program in career digs and her 5.12 digs per set this season are the most in school history since the 25-point scoring system was implemented in 2008.
