Nov. 13, 2008

Illinois sophomore middle blocker Johannah Bangert has been named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 5 Women's Volleyball Second Team.

District Five includes Division I universities in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. In order to be considered, athletes must be in their second year academically at the school, have a minimum 3.30 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and be a starter or regular contributor. CoSIDA members serving schools in each district vote on the winners. District winners then advance to Academic All-America consideration.

Bangert, a secondary education major, leads the nation with a 1.57 blocks per set average. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after leading the Illini to road wins over Michigan and Ohio State. In that week, Bangert hit .364 and tallied six kills and six blocks vs. OSU and .714 with five kills and nine blocks vs. Michigan. She was named to the All-Tournament team at the Billiken Invitational after hitting .464 with 25 kills and 10 block assists for the tourney. She is on pace to have the second most blocks in a season in school history.

Bangert and the Illini are ranked 17th in the nation heading into Friday's showdown with top-ranked Penn State.