McMurtrey and Pilon named Academic All-Americans
By Paul Hall on Monday, July 26th, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Information provided by EOU Athletics) The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) has announced its 2020-21 Academic All-America Volleyball Teams. Eastern Oregon University had two athletes make the list in Kiley McMurtrey and Madison Pilon.
The CoSIDA Academic All-American Award is an academic and athletic based award. Student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 GPA to be nominated and should be a significant contributor to their teams. This year, career statistics were taken into consideration rather than just single-season season stats due to the disparity in games played across the country in 2020-21. McMurtrey was named a First Team Academic All-American while Pilon was named to the Second Team.
McMurtrey is now a two-time Academic All-American selection as she earned the honor in 2019. She is no stranger to the CoSIDA Academic Team’s list as she has garnered All-District honors three straight times in her career while dawning an EOU uniform, along with being an Academic All-American in 2019. On the court, McMurtrey was anchor for the Mountaineers back row as she played all 21 matches at libero and was one of the best in the country at that position and was named an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American this season. The three-time CCC Libero of the Year led the league in total digs and digs per set. She had 385 for the year and averaged 5.27 per set. Her average of 5.27 per set was 36th highest in the NAIA for the 2020 season. She also helped out on offense tallying 50 assists and had a conference-high 30 service aces. McMurtrey’s numbers earned her First Team All-CCC honors for the second consecutive year and a First Team All-Region nod for the AVCA along with being named the Northwest Region Defender of the Year. She was also named to the NAIA All-Tournament Tournament for her play at the final site in the Mountaineers three matches. She wrapped up her career at EOU as the all-time leader in digs at 2,150 and service aces at 132.
For Pilon, this is her first career CoSIDA Academic All-American honor after she garnered her second straight Academic All-District honor earlier this season. On the court, Pilon was the floor general for Eastern Oregon all season long as she has dished out 611 total assists. She has a career total of 3,158 assists which is second most in program history. In 2020, has helped guide the offense to average 12.5 assists per set which ranked 12th overall in the NAIA. She was named the CCC Setter of the Year, earned First Team All-CCC honors, and was named First Team All-Region for the AVCA.
Both McMurtrey and Pilon leave Eastern Oregon as one of the best not only on the court but in the classroom, respectively. McMurtrey graduated from EOU this past June with a perfect 4.0 GPA and received three Bachelor’s degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies, and Physical Activity & Health. For Pilon, she graduated with a 3.96 GPA and received her Bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies/Elementary Education. Both athletes were also CCC U.S.Bank All-Academic Team selections from 2018-2020 and were named NAIA Scholar-Athletes for the 2019-20 academic year, respectively. McMurtrey was also named the CCC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2019-20 academic year as a junior.
