Blair Cherry becomes Carson-Newman Volleyball’s first-ever Academic All-American
College Sports Communicators has announced its 2025 Volleyball Academic All-American teams, which list Blair Cherry as a third-team honoree.
GREENWOOD, Ind. – College Sports Communicators has announced its 2025 Volleyball Academic All-American teams, which list Blair Cherry as a third-team honoree.
Before the turn of the year, Cherry was one of four selections to the Academic All-District teams from C-N. Her recognition on the All-American list marks her as the first Eagle's volleyball player to earn an Academic All-American nod.
A more-than deserving winner of the award, the junior has led the Eagles as the starting setter throughout her time at C-N, collecting 2803 career assists, good for the 5th among Mossy Creek's all-time leaders in helpers. This season, Cherry propelled her team back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years by orchestrating an offense that hit .242 in 2025, the fourth best of any Carson-Newman Volleyball team to date.
She did all this while maintaining an impressive 4.0 GPA as a Biochemistry major. Her plan is to pursue a career in the medical field after completing medical school.
Her selection to the team brings Carson-Newman's all-time Academic All-America honorees to 82 total. Carson-Newman has had 61 Academic All-Americans in the last 11 years; that mark is second-most in the South Atlantic Conference in that span to Wingate.
"What an amazing accomplishment!" said head coach Cat Collins. "We couldn't be more proud of Blair. She embodies our culture and has an amazing work ethic in all areas of her life. We are very blessed and fortunate to have her be a part of our program."
Cherry was the only player in the SAC selected on this year's list, and one of three players from the Southeast region to earn recognition.
Before this, Cherry was a two-time winner of CSC's Academic All-District award. She also garnered the SAC's Elite 23 award this season, which honors the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the tournament site.
Concordia-St. Paul's Makenna Nold took home the Division II Academic All-American Team Member of the Year. Nold was also the AVCA's DII Player of the Year.
The Division II team had a 3.96 cumulative GPA with 12 team members maintaining a 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate and/or graduate studies.
Academic All-American is a title reserved for college student-athletes who perform at an elite level in their chosen sport and in the classroom. The all-time list of 44,000+ Academic All-Americans includes major sports stars and some of the world's most accomplished individuals in medicine, business, science, and the arts. Established in 1952 and selected by CSC, Academic All-America is the longest-running and premier award for athletic and academic success across championship college sports at all NCAA levels, the NAIA, two-year colleges, and Canadian institutions.
You can find the full list of honorees here.
For updates throughout the week, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Full coverage is also available at cneagles.com.
