DETROIT -- For the first time in program history, Wayne State University volleyball has an Academic All-American.  Tuesday afternoon, junior middle blocker Kayla Giroux was honored as a College Sports Communicators (CSC) Second Team Academic All-American.  Overall, WSU has racked up 97 Academic All-Americans, including 72 since 2000 alone.

"I'm very proud of Kayla's accomplishments both on the court and in the classroom," said head coach Tim Koth.  "She has been exceptional in both areas which is a testament to her wonderful character.  This honor is so well deserved."

This season, Giroux paced the GLIAC and and ranked ninth nationally in hitting percentage (.404) while churning out 370 kills, good for fourth in the league and 72nd in Division II.  Giroux was the only middle blocker among the GLIAC's top five kill leaders, the other four being outside hitters.  That .404 hitting percentage is the best in program history crushing her old school record of .3538 that she set last season.  Among the country's leaders, she was also 39th in points per set (4.36), 64th in total blocks (112), 66th in kills per set (3.59) and 70th in blocks per set (1.09).

Defensively, the Flat Rock, Mich. native was also one of the league's best blockers statistically.  Giroux racked up more total blocks than all but two players in the conference, including 20 solo blocks, 92 block assists and 1.09 blocks per set (fourth).  All in all, she set a new career high for kills, kills per set, total attacks (727), hitting percentage, assists (13), service aces (13), aces per set (0.13), digs (60), digs per set (0.58), solo blocks, block assists, total blocks, points (449) and points per set.  Giroux accomplished all of that while playing the fewest sets (103) in a single campaign for her career behind 111 as a sophomore and 110 as a rookie.

Career wise, Giroux's hitting percentage stands at .363, good for first in program history.  She needs 22 kills to reach 1,000, 176 to break into the school's top 10 and 334 more for the all-time top three.

The third-year Warrior was one of two student-athletes represented by the GLIAC on the three CSC Academic All-American Teams.  Jordyn Gates, senior setter from Grand Valley State, was featured on the Second Team.