Junior co-captain Nicole Buchholz earned her first career All-Academic honor from the Northeast-10 on Wednesday.

Buchholz named to NE-10 All-Academic First Team
Two-time All-Conference player earns first career All-Academic honor

RINDGE, N.H. (October 24, 2007) – Junior co-captain Nicole Buchholz (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) of the Franklin Pierce University women’s volleyball team was named to the Northeast-10 Conference All-Academic first team by the conference’s 15 Sports Information Directors, the conference announced on Wednesday. To be eligible for selection, players must have participated in at least half of the team’s matches as a starter or significant contributor, achieved a 3.20 grade point average or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and completed at least one academic year at their current institution.

Buchholz, who has achieved a 3.446 cumulative grade point average as a mass communications major at Franklin Pierce, earns her first All-Academic selection after being named an NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll Bronze Scholar in 2006. The junior co-captain has also earned two All-Conference honors from the Northeast-10, having been named to the All-Conference second team in 2006 and the third team in 2005.

Buchholz, a two-time All-Conference selection, leads the NE-10 in blocks this season.

This season, Buchholz is the only Raven player to appear in every game of every match, having started all 30 of the team’s matches. The middle hitter leads the Ravens with 291 kills (2.60/game) and paces the conference with a career-high 150 blocks (1.34/game), while also adding a career-high 88 digs (0.79/game). Due in large part to Buchholz, Franklin Pierce also leads the conference in team blocking with 2.63 blocks per game.

In three seasons, the Ashburn, Va., native has recorded 875 kills (2.81/game) and 372 blocks (1.20/game) in 84 career matches. Among Raven players since the 1995 season, Buchholz ranks second in career blocks and fourth in kills, and also holds three of the top-eight single-season block totals, including her 150 from this season that already ranks third on the school’s list.

The Franklin Pierce volleyball team (16-14, 9-4 NE-10), currently in fourth place in the Northeast-10 and ranked tenth in the first NCAA Div. II Northeast Regional Poll, takes on Post University and Philadelphia University in a non-conference doubleheader in Waterbury, Conn., on Saturday afternoon before returning home for the 2007 home finale against American International College Tuesday at 7 p.m.