Billetdeaux, Case Tabbed for CoSIDA Academic All-District® Team
CoSIDA Academic All-District® Volleyball Release
The College of Wooster volleyball team's Katie Billetdeaux and Syd Case were voted to the College Sports Information Directors of America's (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® Team, which was announced by the organization on Thursday afternoon. They now advance to the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America® consideration.
Billetdeaux enjoyed a breakout year that saw the senior earn second-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors. The Fighting Scots' No. 1 middle logged career-highs in kills (342), digs (86), and blocks (78). She was one of two players on this year's team with over 300 kills, a first for the program since 2012. Billetdeaux's .340 hitting percentage is the program's second-highest for a season in the current scoring era. She logged a career-high 22 kills against Denison University to help lead the Scots to the program's first appearance in the NCAC Tournament championship match since 1985. Earlier in the year, Billetdeaux tied her then-career-high in kills with 18 against Adrian College. On the year, Billetdeaux had 21 double-digit kill outings. Elsewhere, she had six blocks in Wooster's win over Case Western Reserve University, and was the NCAC Athlete of the Week following the NCAC/Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Battle at the Point.
For her Independent Study, Billetdeaux is investigating how big of a role eyes play in facial emotion recognition using an electroencephalogram (EEG). Billetdeaux prepped for her I.S. as a sophomore research intern. There, she learned how to set up and run an EEG scan and became proficient in running the scan on participants on her own. Elsewhere, Billetdeaux designed an experimental testing procedure and studied rodent behavior through a neuroscience research experience at the College, and she has volunteered with Montessori School of Wooster and the Little Scots Volleyball Camp.
Back home, the cognitive behavioral neuroscience major has worked as a summer camp counselor with the Lindenhurst Park District in Lindenhurst, Illinois.
Case, one of Wooster's first-team All-NCAC selections, currently ranks seventh nationally with 10.79 assists per set, with that total marking the program's top average in the current scoring era. Case finished the year with 1,144 assists, 11 shy of the scoring-era program record. She's the first Scot to finish with at least 10 assists per set since 2006, and helped the Scots to a .217 hitting percentage, the third-highest mark in the NCAC. Case passed out a single-match scoring-era program record 57 assists in the semifinals of the NCAC Tournament and logged 11 double-doubles on the year. Her season-high in digs, 18, came against Thiel College, the first of a 10-match winning streak, a first for the program since 1984. Case logged four matches with at least 50 assists this fall and had 10 others in the 40s.
Case is constructing a multifaceted ArcGIS dashboard to manage and visually represent climate date for her Independent Study. As part of that, Case is working to construct a file geodatabase to store the College's earth sciences department's climate datasets. She is aiming to create a functional and efficient webpage for departmental and public access to the College dashboards and produce tutorials for future students.
Last spring, Case used three-dimensional models to analyze Icelandic glaciovolcanic tindars. She demonstrated the importance of viewing glaciovolcanic structures in three dimensions and laid the foundation for potential outcomes of further research in the area. She also completed a semester-long research project analyzing eolian sedimentation on Mars, and examined wind transport processes and dune formation as part of that research.
Last fall, Case produced online maps illustrating recommended prescribed fire locations to diminish wildfire damage in Brazil. During her time at Wooster, the environmental geoscience major interned with the United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, interned with the World Wildlife Fund, and earlier in her college studies, was an environmental education intern.
Of note, Wooster was one of just seven NCAA Div. III programs with two first-team Academic All-District® honorees. CoSIDA's Academic All-America® release for Div. III volleyball is slated for Thursday, December 16.
Wooster went 20-9 this fall and advanced to the championship match of the NCAC Tournament for the third time in program history.