Bearcats earn AVCA team academic award

The McKendree University women’s volleyball team received praise for its academic prowess this week from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) along with 764 teams that earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2015-2016 season. This number breaks the previous year’s total of 757 to set an all-time high.

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.

Bearcats head coach Nickie Sanlin was thrilled to see her squad excel in the classroom.

“This is an extraordinary accomplishment for the team,” said Sanlin. “The focus on academics is the first priority and being able to compete in the GLVC is a by product of that. As a coach this goes above and beyond what I can teach these phenomenal group of women. They have discovered that education is through athletics and have reached their goal for the past six seasons.”

The AVCA Team Academic Award 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 477 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 764.

Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 24-year history, with exactly 7,642 awards been given out in total.

This story was originally published July 28, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Bearcats earn AVCA team academic award."