Webber's Salla Rautiainen, Hannah Tannone earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors

by Richard Baptist

Babson Park, Fla. (06/10/2020) — Webber International University beach volleyball players Salla Rautiainen and Hannah Tannone were each selected to the Academic All-District I Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America in the NAIA At-Large Division.

The 2020 Academic All-District Women's At-Large Team, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletic competition and in the classroom. To be nominated, a student-athlete must hold a grade point average of at least 3.3 and be a starter or key reserve on their team. This year, a special exception was made to use career stats due to spring sports seasons being incomplete.

Rautiainen is a native of Espoo, Finland, who boasts a 3.97 grade point average in the computer information systems program as a senior.

Tannone is a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, who finished her undergraduate career with a 3.86 grade point average and is now in the Sport Business Management MBA program at Webber.

Both Rautiainen and Tannone were members of Webber's American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) Small College Beach Volleyball National Championship team in 2018 while Tannone is a two-time national champion after also being a part of Webber's Rox Small College Beach Volleyball National Championship team in 2017.

Both ladies played a key role in Webber's 2019 Sun Conference Regular-Season and Conference Invitational championships as the Warriors also went on to make their third straight Small College Beach Volleyball Final Four appearance that season as well.

Both Rautiainen and Tannone earned Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week at different points throughout the shortened 2020 season.

Rautiainen was 3-3 in the No. 2 position and 2-0 in TSC matches in 2020 before the season was cut short. Her other academic awards from her time at Webber so far include: 2019-20 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, making the Dean's List ever semester she has been at Webber, being a member of the Honor's Program since the spring of 2019, and earning Academic All-Sun Conference honors in indoor volleyball in 2018 and 2019 and in beach volleyball in 2020.

Rautiainen is a peer tutor at Webber helping other students succeed in their academics and is also a member of PBL where they have hosted numerous events (Halloween, Christmas, Easter) to bring the community together with Webber. She is also a founder of Webber's new "The Warrior" newsletter as the head of design. Salla is very proud of the fact that she and her peers first began creating the newsletter from scratch in the fall of 2019 and now have almost 500 followers on Instagram. Salla is also the only current Finnish beach volleyball player playing at the collegiate level in the United States.

Tannone, meanwhile, was 7-2 overall (all in No. 4 position) and 2-0 in TSC matches in 2020 before her season was cut short. Her other academic awards from her time at Webber include: 2018 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, member of the Dean's List, and three-time Academic All-Sun Conference honoree.

Webber's Head Beach Volleyball Coach Jessica Gehrke-Hauptmann said, "We are so excited for Hannah and Salla, both are tremendous leaders both on the court and in the classroom for our beach volleyball program. They are both such a joy to coach and I am looking forward to seeing their continued success here at Webber."

Women's At-Large sports include beach volleyball, bowling, crew/rowing, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis and waterpolo. Rautiainen and Tannone join nine other athletes in the "At Large" sports who make up the NAIA - District 1 CoSIDA All-District Team. They are joined by four golfers, two tennis players and one member of the lacrosse, swimming and bowling teams in the district.

Both Rautiainen and Tannone will advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America ballot. Academic All-America honorees will be announced from June 16-19.

For more information about CoSIDA's Academic All-District and Academic All-America Teams program, visit AcademicAllAmerica.com or the Academic All-America home page on CoSIDA.com.

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