AUSTIN, Texas -- After concluding her athletic career as one of the most decorated volleyball players in Christopher Newport history, senior middle blocker Alyssa Dozier solidified her position as one of the most highly regarded student-athletes in Captains athletics history on Tuesday afternoon. In an announcement by the organization, Dozier became the first player in any sport at CNU to be selected as a First Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators for a third time in her career. 

In the history of the sport, Dozier is one of only 13 volleyball players across all three levels of NCAA and the NAIA to earn three first team certificates. Most impressively, she is the first Division III student-athlete to ever accomplish the feat while participating in women's volleyball. Since 1981, well over 63,000 women have played NCAA Division III volleyball and Dozier is the first to be recognized among her peers as a first team Academic All-America three times. 

Earning three First Team Academic All-America honors signifies an exceptionally rare achievement for a student-athlete, recognizing sustained excellence in both academics and athletics across multiple seasons. Widely accepted as the most prestigious academic recognition in college athletics, the College Sports Communicators -- formerly known as CoSIDA -- announced the 2025 Volleyball Academic All-Americans on Tuesday afternoon. Dozier is the only NCAA volleyball player at any level to earn her third first team selection this year and is joined by three student-athletes at the NAIA level. Only 59 women have been three-time Academic All-Americans in the sport of volleyball. 

Nominees must be at least a sophomore with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 or above while being a starter or important reserve on the field of play. Nominees must have participated in 90 percent of games played or started two-thirds of the total contests in 2025. Over a thousand Division III student-athletes were recognized as Academic All-District selections and nearly 15 percent of those advanced to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members for first-, second-, and third-team Academic All-America selection. 

Dozier had already made history as the first three-time Academic All-District selection in program history and continues to add to her impressive mantle of individual accolades with the national recognition on Tuesday. In the classroom, Dozier sports a perfect 4.0 grade-point average as a double major at Christopher Newport University. She is working toward degrees in History and Political Science. The star student was named the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2025 and is a three-time Academic All-Conference pick. 

On the court, the middle blocker from Arlington, Virginia had a record-shattering career as the focal point of the CNU offense and defense over the last four years. She became the all-time leader in blocks with 490 rejections at the net including ranking second all-time in solo terminations with 167. Dozier also finished her tenure ranking fourth in career kills (1,368) and fourth in attack percentage (.324) after one of the most dominant single-seasons in program history. Her 2025 campaign featured the most kills in a season since 2012 and ranks in the top-ten all-time at CNU while she became just the third player in program history to hit over .400 for a single season (.402). 

Elevating her game under the brightest lights, Dozier proved herself as one of the most dominant postseason players in program history. She broke the single match record for kills in the NCAA Tournament with 27 against Cortland this season and also holds both the program record and second-highest hitting percentage for a postseason tournament after hitting .477 in 2025 and .433 as a junior in 2024. 

Her impressive career has led to one of the most decorated individual trophy cases in CNU Athletics history. She earned first team All-America plaudits from the AVCA in 2025 to cap a three-time All-American career for the Captains. Dozier was the first player in program history to be named the AVCA Region Player of the Year this season and was also tabbed the Region Rookie of the Year in 2022.  She was named both the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 and is a four-time Conference Player of the Year pick while also earning C2C Rookie of the Year laurels in 2022. 

The Captains reached the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship for the 18th consecutive season after capturing the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship in 2025. CNU closed out the year ranked No. 18 nationally with an overall record of 26-8 for the highest team winning percentage since 2018. 

The complete Division III team had a cumulative 3.88 GPA with seven team members maintaining a 4.0 GPA in their undergraduate studies. The Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national
governance structure to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2025-26 Division III Academic All-America® program. For a complete list of the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Teams, click here.