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RIO GRANDE VALLEY\u00a0\u2013 The Southland Conference (SLC) announced the 2025 Volleyball All-Academic Awards on Friday and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) junior setter\u00a0Isabella Costantini<\/a>\u00a0was named the Student-Athlete of the Year.\u00a0 Support UTRGV Volleyball<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Become a Fan on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Follow us on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Follow us on YouTube<\/a>
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\nCostantini and four teammates \u2013 sophomore outside hitter\u00a0Martina Franco<\/a>,\u00a0freshman outside hitter\u00a0Dimitra Nanou<\/a>,\u00a0redshirt sophomore middle blocker\u00a0Julianna Bryant<\/a>\u00a0and senior right side\u00a0Valentina Sarti Cipriani<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 all made the All-Academic Team.\u00a0
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\nTo be eligible for the All-Academic Team, volleyball student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or better with at least one semester completed at the nominating institution and must have participated in at least 50% of the team’s matches. To be eligible for Student-Athlete of the Year, the minimum GPA is 3.50 along with the other requirements.\u00a0
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\nCostantini’s Student-Athlete of the Year award adds to a long list of accolades after UTRGV’s stellar 2025 season. Costantini was named the SLC Setter of the Year and to the All-Conference First Team for the second consecutive season. She made the SLC All-Tournament Team and was a three-time Setter of the Week honoree after helping UTRGV to the regular season championship and the conference tournament championship match.\u00a0
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\nCostantini finished the season leading the conference with 10.62 assists\/set, 57 aces and 0.54 aces\/set. She totaled 1,115 assists while facilitating the offense to a program-record .275 hitting percentage. The CSC Academic All-District honoree was a multidisciplinary studies student at UTRGV focusing on kinesiology, biology and nutritional sciences.\u00a0
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\nFranco, a kinesiology student, was named the SLC Newcomer of the Year and made the All-Conference First Team. She led UTRGV’s versatile offense averaging 3.44 kills\/set and totaled 248 kills on .258 hitting in her first season with the Vaqueros. Franco tabbed six double-doubles as she averaged 2.43 digs\/set and had three matches with 20+ kills.\u00a0
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\nNanou was voted as the SLC Freshman of the Year and made the All-Conference First Team. She tabbed eight double-doubles in her rookie season, recording a team-high 294 kills while averaging 3.09 kills\/set on a .275 hitting percentage and 2.61 digs\/set. She was second on the team with 39 aces and entered UTRGV’s freshman season record books by collecting top 5 marks in hitting percentage and aces. She is pursuing a degree in biology.\u00a0
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\nBryant made the All-Conference Second Team and the All-Tournament Team in her comeback season after her 2024 campaign was cut short due to injury. She led UTRGV averaging 1.03 blocks\/set with 96 total blocks and recorded 2.09 kills\/set on a .280 hitting percentage. Bryant, a criminal justice student, had six matches with five or more blocks and seven matches with double-digit kills.\u00a0
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\nCipriani entered the program record books as she tabbed the third-best single-season hitting percentage of .306 in program history. She contributed 2.53 kills\/set and 0.61 blocks\/set in her lone season at UTRGV. The mass communication student was extremely efficient, hitting over .400 in six matches and reached double-digit kills in nine contests. Her best hitting performance was a match at Northwestern State, when she collected 10 kills with no errors on 13 attempts for a .769 hitting percentage \u2013 the fifth-best single-match mark in program history.\u00a0
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\nSouthland Volleyball All-Academic Awards\u00a0
\nStudent-Athlete of the Year:\u00a0Isabella Costantini<\/a>, UTRGV
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\nAll-Academic Team
\nIsabella Costantini<\/a>, UTRGV
\nMartina Franco<\/a>, UTRGV
\nDimitra Nanou<\/a>, UTRGV
\nJulianna Bryant<\/a>, UTRGV
\nValentina Sarti Cipriani<\/a>, UTRGV
\nGracie Campbell, East Texas A&M
\nRendi Fetty, East Texas A&M
\nHaley Mullaney, East Texas A&M
\nJade Washington, East Texas A&M
\nAllana Archie, Houston Christian University
\nKaty Barger, Houston Christian University
\nJoya Euhus, Houston Christian University
\nPeyton Fadal, Houston Christian University
\nHannah Redrow, Houston Christian University
\nAlex Beauchamp, UIW
\nVanessa Eregie, UIW
\nFinley Evans, UIW
\nKyla Malone, UIW
\nAlexa Gonzalez, Lamar
\nLyric Jordan, Lamar
\nHailey McElrath, Lamar
\nTaisha Rhone, Lamar
\nDaniella Udegbunam, Lamar
\nNeal Grace Berry, McNeese
\nLauren Fuller, McNeese
\nAva Henry, McNeese
\nKinga Ziolkowska, McNeese
\nVanae Sapp, New Orleans
\nAlessandra Meoni, New Orleans
\nDefne Eciroglu, New Orleans
\nLani Alleman, New Orleans
\nCourtney Roundtree, New Orleans
\nTierney Terrell, Nicholls
\nOlivia Bush, Northwestern State
\nJulia Whitfield, Northwestern State
\nEmmarie McFarland, Northwestern State
\nSamaya Wesson, Northwestern State
\nMakenna Tryon, Northwestern State
\nIndia Bennett, Southeastern
\nAinsley Driska, Southeastern
\nLily Morgan, Southeastern
\nAlexis Logarbo, Southeastern
\nPeyton Stokley, Southeastern
\nCaroline Kahle, Stephen F. Austin
\nKyanna Creecy, Stephen F. Austin
\nJayden Flynn, Stephen F. Austin
\nIzabella Ortiz, Stephen F. Austin
\nKatherine Holtman, Stephen F. Austin
\nBrooklyn Jaeger, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
\nVirginia Ban Der Werff, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
\nKenna Buchanan, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
\nKatelyn Krienke, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
\nKaitlyn Baumann, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi<\/p>\n
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