Women's & Men's Volleyball Earn USMC-AVCA Team Academic Awards

LEXINGTON, Ky.— The United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that 1,333 collegiate and high school volleyball teams have earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award this season. Both the Emmanuel College women's and men's volleyball programs earned the prestigious honor during the 2022-23 academic year.

This marks an all-time record number of programs honored for their academic achievements. The award, initiated in the 1992–93 academic year, honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.

On the women's side, 229 NCAA Division III programs earned the honor. The Saints were one of only four programs from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) to pick up the recognition, joining Elms, Saint Joseph's (ME) and USJ on the list, and one of just 19 institutions honored from the state of Massachusetts.

For the men's side, 26 NCAA Division III programs earned the honor. The Saints joined Emerson as the only two GNAC programs recognized and were one of five Massachusetts teams honored.

"The commitment our coaches make to help their student-athletes pursue the best versions of themselves is evident in the academic accomplishments highlighted today." said AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon. "Achievement on the court has always been closely tied to success in the classroom which is reflected by the number of championship programs honored."

The additional distinction of Team Academic Honor Roll celebrates programs in the top 20% of GPAs for their division.

Emmanuel was one of only 21 Division III institutions that had both their men's and women's programs recognized this year. Stanford University (Division I) and Corona del Sol High School (Tempe, AZ) hit the trifecta, as their women's, men's, and beach teams all were honored.

The Girls high school division garnered the most winners by divisional category, with 487 teams making the grade.

For the second consecutive year, women's collegiate beach set a record with 66 teams receiving the honor this season. The high school boys, collegiate men, and two-year college women's divisions also set new marks for highest participation to date.

The 2023 award was earned by nine teams that also won national collegiate championships on the court and in the sand during the 2022–23 season including both the NCAA Division III Women's (Juniata) and Men's (Stevens) champions.

The Emmanuel women's team opens play on Friday, September 1 at Fisher College while the men kick off the 2024 campaign on January 18 at Springfield College.

*Portions of release courtesy of the AVCA Communications staff