LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Anderson University volleyball team has been named a recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2018-2019 season, as announced by the organization Monday afternoon.
Joining the Trojans were four South Atlantic Conference schools (Lenoir-Rhyne, Lincoln Memorial, Queens and Wingate) and a record-setting 1,120 additional collegiate and high school volleyball programs that garnered the accolade.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school 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.
The Trojan volleyball squad posted a stellar 3.51 GPA last semester, with the department notching an overall combined 3.28 GPA for the spring term. Rising senior Emily Conlin earned First-Team Academic All-America® honors for the second consecutive year at the conclusion of last season and was one of five first-team members who helped lead her team to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
AU has earned the honor nine times, including the last eight consecutive years, which is the longest streak in the South Atlantic Conference and equals the 18th longest streak in the NCAA Division II ranks.
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 has increased every single year but two, while more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the number of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,125.
Girls high school led the way with 444 recipients, an increase of 86 over last year. NCAA Division I leaped ahead of NCAA Division III to bring in the second-most recipients adding 25 programs from a year ago for a total of 189. NCAA Division III is third with 175 (+2) while NCAA Division II is next with 141 (+13). One of the fastest growing sectors for this award is high school boys/collegiate men, notching a +10 increase for a total of 62 honorees. Collegiate beach is another fast-growing category with that area of the sport nearly doubling last year's total from 22 to 41.
Anderson is slated to get the 2019 season underway at the Cedarville (Ohio) Yellow Jacket Invitational on Sept. 6-7.