(Rolla, Mo.) – Jennifer Costello (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway South ) has been chosen as the Capital One Academic All-America® of the Year award winner for Division II volleyball. She leads the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America® Division II Volleyball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Costello becomes the third player in school history to earn the award joining swimmers Jack Pennuto (2004) and Bill Guall (2006).

A chemical engineering major with a perfect 4.00 GPA, she is making her second straight appearance on the Capital One Academic All-America® Volleyball team also earning first team honors last season. Costello is a two-time first team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection and a three-time Academic All-GLVC selection. She was the recipient of the Missouri S&T Scholar Athlete Award by the S&T M-Club the last three years.

This past season she helped lead the Miners to their second straight GLVC West Division title and to the semifinals of the conference tournament. She finished third in the GLVC in set assists/set and 13^th in all of Division II averaging 11.23. As a team, S&T finished 20^th in the nation averaging 12.74 set assists/set. She had eight matches this season with at least 50 set assists including a season-high 61 in a five set win over Upper Iowa on Sept. 7. Costello finished her career with 4,361 set assists, 923 digs, 444.5 points scored, 270 kills, 182 total blocks and 80 service aces.

She is the 44^th Missouri S&T student-athlete to be named Academic All-America since 2000, the fifth highest among any institution in NCAA Division II since 2000. 

Missouri S&T has had 68 Academic All-America selections in the history of the program.  The team is selected by the sports information directors in NCAA Division II.

S&T finished the 2012 season with a record of 20-13 overall, 15-3 in the GLVC.

2012 Capital One Academic All-America Volleyball Team -- NCAA Division II