Eastern Michigan Athletics
Volleyball Honored by AVCA for Academic Success
7/23/2007 5:08:29 PM | Volleyball
Women's team compiled 3.346 GPA in 2006-07
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team was one of just 55 NCAA Division I programs to receive the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2006-07 school year. The honor marks the seventh time in the program's history, and the third consecutive year that EMU has earned the award.
"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.
The AVCA Team Award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale during the school year.
Recipients of the award range from NCAA Division I institutions to high school girls’ and boys’ teams. The college ranks produced 163 programs that met the requirements for the award in 2006-07. In addition to the record number of NCAA Division I recipients, NCAA Division III (53) exceeded its previous high mark of 48, set in 2003-04. There were 30 NCAA Division II schools honored, the third highest total for that division.
The NAIA had 16 of its member schools achieve the honor this year, its fourth-highest total in the award’s history. Seven (7) schools in the two-year college category attained the mark, tying the third-highest total in that division. The NCAA men’s programs produced multiple recipients of the award for the first time, as two institutions earned the award. A total of 140 high school boys’ and girls’ programs earned the award in 2006-07, nearly tying their highest mark of 144 set in 2003-04.
Over 900 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 15-year history, and over 2,500 awards have been given out. Only two institutions, both high schools, have earned the distinction all 15 years: Jonesboro High School (Jonesboro, Arkansas) and Ross S. Sterling High School (Baytown, Texas).
