BOSTON, Mass. – Senior libero Sam Curran (Quincy, Mass.) of the Wentworth Institute of Technology women's volleyball team today was named to the Capital One Division III Academic All-America® First Team.

The Capital One Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2014-15 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.

Curran, who last year was named Academic All-District for volleyball and a Second Team Academic All-America for softball, becomes the first member of the Leopard women's volleyball program to earn this prestigious honor and she is the 10th Academic All-American in Wentworth history, with six of those 10 being named to the first team. Additionally, with her second Academic All-America award, she is the fourth Leopard student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors more than once.

A Biomedical Engineering major, Curran played in 95 of a possible 95 sets over 28 matches this past season for the Leopards and established a program record for digs in a season with 427, breaking her own record of 404 set as a junior. She also led the team with 51 service aces, which placed her among Wentworth's single-season leaders.

Among Commonwealth Coast Conference women's volleyball players, Curran was fourth in digs per set, fifth in digs, sixth in service aces per set, and seventh in service aces.

Curran played in 106 matches (371 sets) over her career and is the program's all-time leader with 1,414 digs, while ranking fifth all-time in service aces with 154. She is also the program leader in digs per set (3.81) and is eighth with 0.59 service aces per set. The 371 sets she played in over her career is second in program history, while she ranks third among Leopard players with 106 career matches played.

An Academic All-CCC honoree in both volleyball and softball in each of the last two seasons, Curran was inducted as a member of Chi Alpha Sigma, the student-athlete honor society, this past April.

Wentworth finished the season with a 14-14 record, marking the second straight season the program has finished with a .500 or better record.

To be eligible for Academic All-America ® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Ten of the 18 members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Division III volleyball teams have a 3.90 GPA or better, with six achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA. The 18 members of the Capital One Academic All-America® Division III volleyball first team maintain an average GPA of 3.905.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.