Nov. 6, 2014

Compete List of Winners (PDF)

Champaign, Ill. - Illinois seniors Anna Dorn and Liz McMahon were both named to Capital One Academic All-District® 5 teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), on Thursday, marking the sixth time in program history and first since 2009 that at least two Illini earned this prestigious award in the same season.

In order to be considered for Academic All-District honors, a student-athlete must be in at least his or her second year at an institution, have a grade-point average of 3.3 or better, and be a starter or significant contributor to the team.

Dorn becomes the first Illini in program history to earn three First-Team selections, while McMahon was named to the Second Team for the first time in her career. Dorn joins Director of Operations Johannah Bangert '11 as the only Illinois student-athletes to take home All-District honors three times, as Bangert was named to the Second Team in 2008 and the First Team in 2009 and 2010. Bangert went on to earn First Team Academic All-America in her senior campaign.

Dorn and McMahon are the only Big Ten student-athletes out of District 5 to receive the academic award, while Minnesota twins Paige and Hannah Tapp as well as Wisconsin sophomore Lauren Carlini took home District 6 honors.

Dorn has proved herself a force to be reckoned with at the net, ranking second all time at Illinois with 489 career block assists while recording a lifetime .348 clip, good for seventh in the career record books. The middle blocker became just the fifth Illini in program history to record 500 career blocks on Nov. 1, teaming up with McMahon to set up match point in the fifth set at Michigan. She started the season on a high note, hitting .571 with four kills and seven blocks to lead the Illini to a sweep of then-No. 20 North Carolina, who has since climbed to No. 8 in the AVCA Poll, then stuffed a season-best nine blocks at then-No. 2 Stanford. She was named to the Blue Raider Bash All-Tournament team for putting up 16 blocks and 11 kills in Murfreesboro, and had one of her best offensive performances against Indiana on Oct. 24, hitting .714 with 10 kills and six blocks vs. the Hoosiers.

A three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, Dorn has a 3.96 cumulative GPA through her first four years at Illinois. A kinesiology major, the Munster, Indiana, native desires to go to medical school following graduation.

McMahon picks up her first career Academic All-District selection, being named to the Second Team. A two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar, her 3.85 cumulative GPA in recreation, sport and tourism helped make her a finalist for the prestigious 2014 Senior CLASS Award (vote for Liz).

The Liberty Township, Ohio, native is making the most of her senior season, having been named to all four preconference all-tournament teams, including beginning the year by earning Illini Classic MVP honors and Big Ten Player of the Week on Sept. 1 after leading the stacked tournament field with a .426 hitting percentage while tallying 24 kills and 10 blocks. McMahon was influential in the Illini's near upset of now top-ranked and still-undefeated Stanford by posting 19 kills on the afternoon, and the opposite hitter registered an 11-match double-digit kills streak from Sept. 27 to Nov. 1.

McMahon ranks 10th all time in Illinois history with 1,332 career kills, while sitting in 11th in career block assists (385) and total points (1,578.5). A 2013 AVCA All-Region and All-Big Ten Honorable Mention, McMahon entered her senior campaign with her third consecutive Preseason All-Big Ten nod.

As a first-team selection, Dorn will advance to Academic All-America voting, which concludes on Nov. 19, with the announcement of the Academic All-America teams coming on Thursday, Dec. 11.