GREENWOOD, Ind. – The College Sports Communicators (CSC) organization announced the 2025 Academic All-American teams for women's at-large programs across the country earlier this morning, where the Corban University Beach Volleyball program was represented by four Warriors earning the highest honor bestowed across collegiate sports. Three First Team award winners along with a single Second Team member ties Corban University for the most Women's Academic All-Americans for at-large sports in the entire NAIA with the University of Cumberlands, while the four Sandy Warriors to earn Academic All-American honors this past spring are the only beach volleyball players in the country to do so for the NAIA level.
To view CSC's release on the Women's At-Large Academic All-American teams along with complete honoree listings, click HERE.
The CSC Academic All-America program is nominated and voted on by members of the CSC, which are the Sports Information Directors/Director of Athletic Communications from every NAIA institution. Each school's nominees must have met the following criteria to be eligible for the awards: at least sophomore standing both athletically and academically and have maintained at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA through their most recently completed semester. There are numerous playing requirements within the at-large category, varying from 70% match participation (men's & women's bowling, women's beach volleyball/men's and women's wrestling/men's and women's golf) to 90% match participation or 66% starting in their most recent season of competition (men's and women's lacrosse/men's volleyball).
"Corban Beach Volleyball has just landed more awards for academics, which goes to show the commitment our student-athletes make to both their success on the courts and in the classroom!" began Warriors' head coach Dan Stephens when he learned of his program's most recent set of accolades. "We had a handful of Academic All-District worthy players and now have four receiving Academic All-American recognition. These young ladies, along with several other players on our beach team, have excelled in their academics along with their high performance on the courts, and we are proud of what they have accomplished! This is the culture we are working hard to build on the Corban beach team, first with spiritual growth followed by academic excellence and then performance on the courts. I'm so proud of Megan, Jess, Emma, and Emmi for their commitment to representing Corban beach volleyball to the highest extent possible, as they are all very deserving of this recognition."
For the first time in school history, the Warriors netted multiple Academic All-American accolades in a single season, with only two Navy and Gold members having been bestowed with the honor over the six years of program existence. One of the two previously honored Warriors comes in the form of senior Megan Dennis, who is now the program's first multi-award winner for Academic All-American titles having been selected last season as well. Joining Dennis on the First Team listing is senior Jessica McMillian and sophomore Emma Bischoff who are both coming off exceptional seasons for the Corban beach volleyball squad, while junior Emmi Marks earned Second Team honors to round out this year's Corban representatives.
The Corban beach volleyball team is fresh off a national runner-up title in the NAIA National Invitational, as they have finished within the top four programs in the country in all four years that the national organization has sponsored the sport on an invitational basis. The inaugural NAIA National Champions represent the only program in the country to qualify for four-straight national semifinal appearances and most recently honored four more NAIA First Team All-Americans and three All-Tournament Team members at the conclusion of the 2025 national tournament. They have been ranked in every single top ten coaches' poll since the initial ranking was released at the start of the 2022 spring season.
On a regional level, Corban beach volleyball represented four of the five selections for Academic All-American accolades for women's at-large sports from the Cascade Collegiate Conference, as Oregon Tech women's golfer Quincy Beyrouty became the first honoree in her own program's history with a Second Team nod alongside Marks.
In a single season, Coach Stephens and his staff tripled the number of Academic All-Americans in program history with four selections earlier today, representing the first within the Corban Athletic department in the 2024-25 school year and four of five Academic All-American award winners in total. In just complete two seasons as the program leader, Coach Stephens has now led 26 CCC Academic All-Conference selections and NAIA Scholar-Athletes, eight CSC Academic All-District honorees, and five CSC Academic All-Americans with numerous athletic accomplishments ranging from an NAIA National Pair of the Year to eight NAIA All-Americans, two CCC regular season titles and a pair of tournament championships.
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