LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that 822 teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2016-2017 season. This number breaks the previous year's total of 764 to set an all-time high. The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) landed five of the 118 NCAA Division II women's teams recognized.
The five (5) GLIAC programs to earn AVCA Team Academic Award are: Ashland University, Davenport University, Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University and Wayne State University.
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.
The AVCA Team Academic Award, celebrating its 25th year, is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients have increased every single year but two, while amassing a 532 team 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 822.