Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Volleyball Earns AVCA Award
July 23, 2007 | Volleyball
July 23, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has announced that 303 schools (55 Division I) have earned the GamePlanä/AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2006-2007 season, one being Bowling Green State University. This is the ninth time that BGSU has captured this award since 1992.
"I'm always happy to see that our players get recognized nationally for their hard work and commitment in the classroom," said BGSU head coach Denise Van De Walle. "Most everyone around here knows that BG Volleyball maintains high standards, especially with their grades. It's nice that the rest of the country sees that, too. The fact that we continually achieve around a 3.5 is incredible. Anymore if we're below that we feel bad. It's like having a bad season."
The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate 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. Nominating head coaches must be AVCA members. Each school will receive a plaque, and each player a certificate commemorating the designation.
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.
"The AVCA is again privileged to present the GamePlanä/AVCA Team Academic Award to these outstanding intuitions," said Kathy DeBoer, AVCA Executive Director. "We congratulate the student-athletes for their hard work in the classroom and thank our coaches for instilling this dedication in the young women and men of our sport."
