Volleyball Earns AVCA Team Academic Award

LEXINGTON, Ken. - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced that 409 teams earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2008-09 season, and NAU was one of 71 Division I teams to earn the honor. The Lumberjacks achieved a 3.43 cumulative grade-point-average for the year.

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 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

“Each year I'm impressed all over again by the academic prowess of volleyball players,” said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. “Total AVCA Team Academic Award winners increased this year by another 55 schools (15%) over last year's record, and, even more impressive, 22% of our four-year college teams had grade point averages of 3.2 or better.”

The Lumberjacks recorded a 3.41 GPA during the competition season in the fall of 2008, and went on to improve their GPA to 3.48 in the spring of 2009.

Four volleyball student-athletes earned a perfect 4.0 GPA this past spring; Sara Bowden, Kailee Savage, Brittany Stowers and Lexi Sullivan. Thirteen volleyball players earned NAU Golden Eagle Scholar Athlete Awards, and six were named Big Sky All-Academic for the fall of 2008.