LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Simmons College Women's Volleyball team received the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, it was announced today by the organization.
The Sharks are one of 752 teams to earn the honor this season and one of 140 Division III schools for the 2014-15 season.
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.
Simmons posted a team GPA of 3.47 and receives the accolade for the second straight year.
"A hearty congratulations to all the volleyball coaches whose teams won the 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 volleyball success. All involved should celebrate this award!"
The AVCA 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 have increased every single year but one, while amassing a 476 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 752.
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program's 23-year history, with exactly 6,878 awards been given out in total.
Simmons finished the season with an overall 12-15 record, including 9-2 in league play to capture the number three seed in the GNAC Tournament. The Sharks advanced to the GNAC semifinals for the fourth consecutive season and earned its highest seed in the tournament since 1999.