AUSTIN, Texas – Tennessee State volleyball's Gina Rivera-Ortiz has been named a First Team Academic All-American as it was announced by the College Sports Communicators (CSC) on Wednesday morning.
 
In addition to maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA in the classroom as a Health Science Major, the grad student was named to the All-OVC First Team while helping her team win the OVC Championship and a first-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Puerto Rico native is the all-time OVC leader in career digs with 2,640.
 
Last season, the grad student became the all-time career leader in TSU history in digs. Her 745 digs in 2022 gave her the single-season TSU record and ranked second in the country. She had a season-high 37 digs against SIUE.
 
She has been named an OVC Player of the Week seven times in her career, while also being awarded the OVC Academic Medal of honor each of the past four years.
 
The NCAA Division I volleyball Academic All-America® team includes 10 student-athletes who have maintained perfect 4.0 GPA's plus another with a 4.0 GPA in graduate studies among its 21 honorees. The first team put together an average GPA of 3.892.