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LEXINGTON, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team was one of 94 NCAA Division I programs to receive the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2009-10 school year. The honor marks the 10th time in the program's history, and the sixth consecutive year that EMU has earned the award.
The Eagles ended the 2009-10 academic year with a cumulative GPA of 3.493 to earn the honor.
“All decisions regarding the volleyball program center on the interests of the student-athlete and academics are a core belief of our volleyball program,” said head coach
Kim Berrington. “We believe the success of our program is based on the development of personal responsibility and the cooperation among teammates, staff and the university.”
The Eagles posted the highest GPA in the nation during the 1997-98 season.
Nebraska holds the all-time record by being honored 13 times, while Morehead State and Indiana State have received the award 12 times. Bowling Green has been named 11 times, while EMU, Denver and Toledo have earned the award 10 times.
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.
"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. Both NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II recorded their highest-ever total numbers of recipients, with the former honoring 94 programs and the latter honoring 55 programs. The high school division also set a new bar with its 179 honorees.
Prior to 2009-10, only nine 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 four programs -- Concordia University-St. Paul (NCAA Division II), Washington University in St. Louis (NCAA Division III), Clearwater Christian College (NCCAA Division II) and Stanford University (NCAA Division I-II men) - all of whom excelled both in the classroom and on the court. Concordia-St. Paul and Washington-St. Louis had both accomplished this feat once before, ironically both in the same academic year (2007-08).
There were 119 first-time recipients of the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2009-10. NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II each saw 15 new teams achieve the honor, while NCAA Division III welcomed 17 newcomers. Thirteen NAIA teams, two NCCAA teams and two Two-Year Colleges garnered recognition for the first time, while 55 high school teams (51 girls' teams and four boys' teams) received their first AVCA Team Academic nod.
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. Only two institutions, both high schools, have earned the distinction all 18 years: Jonesboro High School (Jonesboro, Arkansas) and Ross S. Sterling High School (Baytown, Texas).