Heath Earns Capital One Academic All-District Honors

AURORA, N.Y. – Senior Taryn Heath (Truxton, N.Y.) of the Wells College women's volleyball team picked up Capital One Academic All-District® First Team honors for her strong academic and athletic performance in 2014, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced on Thursday. Heath is only the second player in school history to pick up this prestigious award.

Selected by the members of CoSIDA, the All-District Women's Volleyball teams have been released to recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom. Heath and the other First Team Academic All-District honorees will now advance to the Capital One Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be tabbed later in the month.

Graduating from Wells a full year early, Heath had a strong performance in her final season with the Express. The team posted a 23-10 overall record in only their third season as a modern day varsity program at Wells, racking up a 10-2 record within the North Eastern Athletic Conference. Only a season prior, the team posted a 5-25 record and registered 18 more wins in 2014 while dramatically reducing the team's number of losses.

Academically, Heath will graduate this spring with a double major in Sociology/Anthrology and Psychology. Boasting a 3.96 grade-point average heading into her final year in a Wells uniform, she has earned Dean's List honors during her college career and has been selected to the NEAC Scholar-Athlete list several times. A two-sport athlete at Wells, Heath also competes on the College's women's tennis program.

In 2014, Heath led the Express with 588 total assists, averaging 7.64 per set to lead the team in that statistic. Ranking fourth in the conference in assists per set, she elevated her play against NEAC foes by averaging 9.06 assists across 10 conference matches. Picking up her 1,500th career assist on Oct. 10 against Utica, she narrowly missed out on 300 in-conference assists, ranking sixth overall with 299 to her credit in only 33 sets played.

She racked up 49 assists in two separate matches in 2014, breaking her previous program record of 46 with 49 helpers against Keystone on Sept. 5. She later duplicated the feat against Ithaca on Oct. 22, doing so against a 20-plus win Ithaca College program. Not only a proficient setter, Heath was also the most reliable server on the team, committing only six service errors in well over 200 attempts. Defensively, Heath averaged 2.04 digs per set while tallying 2.15 per set against conference opponents.

For her career, she ranks third all-time in total sets played (290) and matches played (88). Her 1,685 assists ranks her first all-time by a large margin and she is tied for first place all-time with 5.81 assists per set across her career. Defensively, Heath has racked up 463 digs in her career to rank second all-time in that statistic. Her 74 service aces rank third all-time.

"Taryn is an incredible student athlete here at Wells and I'm so pleased that our team's success has helped get her an opportunity to be noticed for this award," remarked Head Coach Richard Gary. "As a two-sport athlete, overloading in credits every semester in order to graduate early with a double major and leading our volleyball team from its very beginning, I cannot imagine how she keeps it all balanced.

"However, she always seems to be composed and positive while squeezing every ounce out of the experience here. On the court, she has been the leader of our offense, helping our middle hitters find an excellent rhythm while developing herself into a great server and blocker too. I've never had a more dependable and thoughtful player and our team has been incredibly lucky to have her these three seasons," concluded Gary.