Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Volleyball earns AVCA Academic Award for fifth-straight season
07/23/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
July 23, 2010
www.SIUSalukis.com
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced Tuesday that 450 teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2009-10 season. This number once again eclipses the previous years' total of 409 and sets a new all-time high for this award.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
NCAA Division I had 94 schools receiving the award for academic achievements. Southern Illinois, carrying a 3.54 team cumulative GPA this season, earned recognition for the fifth-straight season and is one of nine Missouri Valley Conference teams to earn the honor.
"There is no better way to gauge the success of a sport than to track the accomplishments of the people who participate," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "Each of these 450 teams represents 12-15 really smart kids. What a great day for the sport of volleyball!"
The Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. The program has increased by over 300% in the last 10 years and by 79% in the past three years alone. NCAA Division I recorded its highest-ever total numbers of recipients honoring 94 programs.
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program's 18-year history, and over 2,900 awards have been given out in all.
