University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball Team Awarded for Academic Excellence
7/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
July 25, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss volleyball program was awarded its third consecutive team award for excellence in the classroom for being one of 92 NCAA Division I women's programs earning the 2010-11 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award.
The 481 teams that earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2010-2011 season breaks the previous years' total of 450 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. Houston, Memphis, Rice, UAB and UCF were the other C-USA's award recipients.
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% increase over the span of the decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the award has risen by an astounding 674%. 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 194 recipients.
"I am extremely proud of the team's dedication to the classroom," Coach Abbey Sutherland said. "Earlier this year, we set academic goals with high standards. It is rewarding to see that they've accomplished what they said they would do. This is attributed to their hard work, dedication, and motivation to make a difference in the future. This is a group that wants to be successful on the court and in the classroom."
