Dec. 28, 2011

Contact: Renee Adam

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Cleveland State junior volleyball standout Kara Koch has been named the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Month by the Horizon League for the month of November.

Koch, a native of West Salem, Ohio, was named the Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 7 and then named the CVU.com National Player of the Week on Nov. 8. She averaged 5.33 kills per set and 3.46 digs per set through six matches in November, while recording a double-double in five of the six matches. Koch led the Vikings to a 5-1 record, with the only loss coming in the championship match of the Horizon League Tournament.

The junior set a CSU match record with 35 kills against UIC (Nov. 4) and recorded her 1,000th career kill against Valparaiso on Nov. 5. During the Horizon League Tournament, she set a match record with 34 kills against Butler and was named to the All-Horizon League Team and to the All-Tournament Team.

Koch, who is majoring in accounting, maintains a 3.73 GPA and was named the CSU Academic Excellence Award Winner in 2009 and 2010.

Peter McKeown, a soccer player at Loyola, earned the honor on the men's side.

The Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Month recognizes outstanding academic and athletic achievements. To be eligible for the honor, the student-athlete must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or better (on a 4.00 scale), have completed at least one year at the member institution, passed 24 semester or 36 quarter hours and perform well during the month's competition. Winners are selected by the League's faculty athletics representatives from nominations provided by sports information directors.