TOWSON, Md. --- Tusculum College's Ashley Sarmiento has been named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America® NCAA Division II Volleyball Second Team as selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Sarmiento, a 5-11 sophomore setter from Dayton, Ohio, has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average, while majoring in Mathematics and Math Education (K-12). Sarmiento becomes the first Academic All-American® in program history.

On the volleyball court, she finished second in the South Atlantic Conference and 39th in the country in assists per set, averaging 10.29 helpers per frame (5th in TC single-season history). Sarmiento currently has the second-best career assists per set average in school history at 10.34 and her 2,367 total assists are third in the Tusculum record books.

The 2010 SAC & AVCA Southeast Region Freshman of the Year is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Tusculum Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. Last season, she was the recipient of the Tusculum Freshman of the Year Academic Award and is a Tusculum academic scholarship recipient.

The Centerville High School graduate is also very active in the community where she is serving her first term as president of the Pioneer Student Athlete Advisory Council. Her community service activities include: "Tusculum Mentor for Kids", Ride for Life, Scholar Athlete Student Leader and volunteers with the Greeneville Humane Society.

Tusculum ended the season with an 18-13 overall record, while advancing to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years. The Pioneers recorded their sixth straight winning season and 22nd in the 30-year history of the Pioneer volleyball program.

This is the first year of the expanded Academic All‐America® program as CoSIDA moves from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non‐Division I) and doubles the number of scholar‐athletes honored. The teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two‐year schools.

The Capital One Division II and III Academic All‐America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2011‐12 DII and DIII Academic All‐America® teams program.

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