CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois University volleyball team has received the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for its performance in the classroom during the 2019-20 academic year, the AVCA announced Tuesday.
SIU is one of a record 1,313 teams to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award. The Salukis are one of nine schools from the Missouri Valley Conference to earn a spot on the list. They are joined by Bradley, Drake, Indiana State, Illinois State, Loyola, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Valparaiso. It marks the 15th-straight season in which the Salukis have earned the honor, which is the fifth-longest active streak in NCAA Division I.
The team accolade caps another strong academic year for the Salukis. Laura Rojas, Rachel Maguireand Hannah Becker were named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete First Team, which were SIU’s most first team honorees since 2012. Southern posted a 3.63 GPA during the 2020 spring semester, which marked the 18th-straight semester in which SIU has posted a team GPA above a 3.1.
The AVCA Team Academic award, which began prior to 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. The Salukis posted a team grade-point average of 3.52 during the 2019-20 academic year.
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 amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,313.
SIU is tentatively scheduled to open the 2020 season Aug. 29-30 at the Arkansas Classic. The Salukis are slated to face Arkansas, Davidson and Louisiana Tech during the two-day event.