Miami Volleyball Honored with AVCA Academic Team Award
July 20, 2011
Lexington, Ky. – For the second consecutive year, the University of Miami volleyball team was chosen to receive the 2010-11 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Academic Team Award, as announced by the AVCA office on Wednesday.
UMiami was one of just 18 institutions to reach the 2010 NCAA Tournament and be honored in receiving this year’s AVCA Academic Team Award. Additionally, Miami joins Duke and NC State as the only three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) schools on this year’s list.
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.
In reaching the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years (2009, 2010), the Canes once again had a solid showing in the classroom as well as on the court. Redshirt junior Katie Gallagher and freshman Alexandria Johnson were each named to the 2010 ACC All-Academic Volleyball Team with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
For the Hurricanes, seven student-athletes carried at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average for the 2010-11 campaign, including freshman Mariel Schofield with a 4.0. Sophomore Nrithya Sundararaman ended the year with a 3.8 GPA and classmate Lizzie Hale achieved a mark of 3.9.
“A hearty congratulations to all the volleyball coaches whose teams won the 2011 AVCA Team Academic Award,” said AVCA Executive Director, Kathy DeBoer. “Teams do not succeed in the classroom by accident any more so than they do on the court. The same coach who taught them volleyball skills cared enough about their academic achievement to gather their grades, calculate their GPA, and submit a nomination on their behalf. In doing so, these coaches sent a clear message that classroom success is just as important as court success. All involved should celebrate this award!”
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. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but one, while amassing an overall 170 percent increase over the span of the decade. Since the award’s inception in 1993, the award has risen by an astounding 674 percent. NCAA Division II recorded their highest-ever total number of recipients, honoring 57 programs while Division III easily surpassed last year’s record of 75 winners with 88 this year. The high school division also set a new record with its 192 recipients.
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 19-year history, with exactly 4,294 awards been given out in total.
The AVCA announced that 478 teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2010-2011 season. This number once again breaks the previous years’ total of 450 and sets a new all-time high for this award.
| BREAKDOWN BY CLASSIFICATION | ||
| Division | Number of recipients | Percent Breakdown* |
| NCAA Division I Women | 92 | 19.25% |
| NCAA Division II Women | 57 | 11.92% |
| NCAA Division III Women | 88 | 18.41% |
| NAIA Women | 30 | 6.28% |
| Two-Year College Women | 12 | 2.51% |
| NCCAA Women | 2 | 0.42% |
| NCAA Collegiate Men | 4 | 0.84% |
| NAIA Men | 1 | 0.21% |
| High School (Girls and Boys) | 192 | 40.17% |
| High School Girls | 176 | |
| High School Boys | 16 |
* Percentage is based on each category’s breakdown of the total 2010-2011 Team Academic recipients.
You can find this year’s list of recipients on our website by clicking here, then scrolling down.
For more information on the University of Miami volleyball team, please log on to HurricaneSports.com. Once there, you will find up-to-date news, stats and information regarding the Hurricanes volleyball program.
Fans can keep up-to-date with all UM Athletics via twitter at Twitter.com/HurricaneSports. You can also become a fan of the Canes on Facebook at Facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes.
ABOUT AVCA
The AVCA, with its headquarters in Lexington, Ky., is managed by Associations International. The mission of the AVCA is to develop and grow the sport of volleyball; with a membership of over 5,000 and counting, the AVCA provides a professional network for those individuals and companies dedicated to enhancing and developing the sport. Members are comprised of national and international coaches, collegiate, high school, club, youth and Olympic coaches, as well as club directors. Other members include former players, officials, media members and other friends of volleyball. As a group, the AVCA is committed to the development, growth, advancement and publicity of volleyball throughout the world. Further information is available at www.avca.org.
