VILLANOVA, Pa. – Senior infielder Victoria Sebastian, senior catcher Ally Jones and junior outfielder Tess Cites were each named to the 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Softball Team in an announcement made this week. The award recognizes the very best student-athletes in the nation, honoring both athletic and academic accomplishments.
During her career, Sebastian has been a two-time Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athlete, a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and a selection to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll in each of her collegiate semesters. The senior infielder, who is majoring in accounting with minors in finance and business analytics, received the Bartley Medallion for accounting earlier this year, awarded annually by the faculty of the Villanova School of Business in recognition of outstanding achievement in a specific discipline. Sebastian has recently been awarded the Sister Mary Margaret Cribben award, given to an athlete who unselfishly sacrificed time, effort, body and soul to lead and motivate their teammates in excelling for Villanova.
On the field, the New Jersey native earned All-BIG EAST Second Team honors this season for the first conference award in her VU career, compiling a .291 average as a senior with seven doubles and a team-high 19-game on-base streak. The athletic infielder was named the 2022 Rawlings Gold Glove winner at first base in the inaugural year of the award in the softball ranks. She finished her senior season as Villanova's fourth-best ever with a .993 fielding percentage, including 877 putouts for ninth all-time.
Jones is another accomplished student-athlete with five AD's Honor Roll selections, three BIG EAST All-Academic Team honors and two NFCA Scholar-Athlete distinctions. The Brielle, N.J., product is currently enrolled in the BA/MA program and pursuing a Master of Arts in communication after graduating as a communication major with a specialization in personal relations and advertising.
The senior backstop also received Second Team All-BIG EAST accolades after a season in which she put forth a .325 batting average with 54 hits, 28 RBI and 26 bases on balls. Behind the plate, Jones has made 588 career putouts with 56 total assists and a .992 fielding percentage. The catcher has been named to three conference weekly honor rolls and an NFCA All-Region team while ranking in Villanova's all-time top 15 for home runs (tie-eighth), slugging percentage (12th), OPS (12th), on-base percentage (tie-14th) and games started (tie-16th) among other categories.
Cites recorded one of the best individual seasons at Villanova to earn a BIG EAST Player of the Year and unanimous All-BIG EAST First Team nod. In the classroom, Cites has twice been named an Easton/NFCA Scholar-Athlete with two mentions on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and five AD's Honor Roll selections while working towards a degree in comprehensive science.
The junior from Horseheads, New York, batted .378 this season with the third-best hits total in VU history with 74, while racking up 45 RBI, 15 doubles, 45 runs and 112 total bases. Her play this year earned the outfielder two BIG EAST Player of the Week accolades and two selections to the conference's weekly honor roll, while placing in the top 15 for a single season in 13 categories.
