WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Denise Kirstein, a senior outside hitter on the Whitman College volleyball team, is having a big week. Kirstein, who was named Player of the Year in the Northwest Conference earlier in the week, was named today to the Academic All-District Team.
Kirstein, a 5-foot-8 senior outside hitter from Spokane, Wash., is one of six players elected to represent the College Division in District VIII, which includes all NAIA and NCAA Div. II and Div. III schools in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona, as well as British Columbia.
Players on all-district teams from around the nation are eligible for election to the Academic All-America Team. That voting will take place later this month.
Kirstein, a graduate of Spokane's Ferris High School, is majoring in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology at Whitman. She plans to attend medical school after graduating from Whitman next spring.
Kirstein led the Northwest Conference in kills this season, averaging 4.60 kills per game, and she led Whitman in digs, averaging 3.84 per game. She finished among the conference leaders in both digs and hitting percentage, and at one point midway through the season, she was named NWC Player of the Week three times in the span of four weeks.
As this year's NWC Player of the Year, Kirstein is one of six players named to the All-NWC First Team. Jill Huber, one of Kirstein's senior teammates, was also named to the conference first team. Kate Borsato, a first-year setter at Whitman, earned honorable mention all-conference recognition.
Kirstein capped her Whitman volleyball career by setting a new single-season record for kills with 423. Her career totals include 1,066 kills, 1,095 digs, 133 blocks and 85 service aces.
Kirstein is writing her senior thesis on research she did last summer with associate professor of chemistry Jim Russo. The research explores how a class of molecules called retinoids are involved in normal blood cell development, and how they can be used to turn leukemic blood cells into normal blood cells.
Kirstein, who also plays varsity basketball at Whitman, serves as a volunteer at Walla Walla's SOS Clinic, which provides medical care to those without insurance.
Kirstein, the daughter of Ken and Peggy Kirstein of Covington, Wash., has a Whitman grade point average of 3.699 on a 4.0 scale.
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) administers the Academic All-America program.