Three SLIAC Teams Among Those Honored by AVCA
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference members Greenville College, MacMurray College and Webster University were among those honored by the AVCA for the Team Academic Award for the 2012-13 season.
A total of 622 teams were honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for the 2012-2013 season. This number once again breaks the previous year's total of 536 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.
"Excellence doesn't happen by accident, either on the court or in
the classroom," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "It
takes consistent preparation, relentless effort, and determined
leadership. A full year of academic achievement, by an entire team
of individual students, is a remarkable achievement. What
better way to start a new season than with a celebration of an
award so emblematic of all that is necessary for sustained
success."
The AVCA 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. Since the 2000-2001 season,
the number of recipients has increased every single year but one,
while amassing an overall 300% increase over the span of the last
decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of
award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of
622.
NCAA Division I recorded their highest-ever total number of
recipients, honoring 130 programs while Division II surpassed last
year's record of 69 winners with 77 this year. Division III
also set a new record with 93 winners and the high school division
increased their all-time high of 220 recipients to 253.
Finally, the NAIA set a new record with 46 winners garnering the
award.
Prior to 2012-2013, only 16 teams had attained the pinnacle of
volleyball success in both earning the AVCA Team Academic Award and
winning their respective collegiate national championship in the
same academic year. This year, the AVCA is proud to recognize
two programs who excelled in the classroom and on the court:
Concordia University-St. Paul (NCAA Division II) and Clearwater
Christian College (NCCAA Division II).
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the
program's 20-year history, with exactly 5,450 awards been given out
in total. For a complete list of the 622 schools to earn the
2012-13 Team Academic Award click HERE
