July 30, 2008

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Three Atlantic 10 Conference volleyball programs, Dayton, Duquesne and La Salle, earned the 2007-08 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award as announced today by the AVCA. A record 353 teams earned the academic award smashing the previous high mark of 308 schools set a year ago.

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.

NCAA Division I broke its own record for number of collegiate schools at any division receiving the award, as 70 of those institutions were honored this year, surpassing the mark of 56 set a year ago.

"This result is just phenomenal!" said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "Look at this in context: We have coaches representing about 3,000 different academic institutions. Of that total, 353, or nearly 12%, coach teams with a grade point average of 3.3 or better! How can you not be proud of that?"

Over 900 different schools have earned the award in the program's 16-year history, and over 2,800 awards have been given out.