STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford's indoor women's and beach teams were recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association today as recipients of the AVCA Team Academic Award.
Stanford programs have time and again proven their commitment to academic excellence. The indoor team boasted a 3.59 team cumulative GPA for the 2017-18 academic year. Two players held over a 4.00, while nine of the 15 members carried a 3.50 or higher. The beach team turned in a 3.32 team GPA for the year with seven players holding a 3.50 or better.
Over the past seven seasons, the indoor team has had 42 players collect Pac-12 all-academic recognition, including seven in 2017 – Tami Alade, Audriana Fitzmorris, Jenna Gray, Morgan Hentz, Michaela Keefe, Merete Lutz and Kathryn Plummer. The Cardinal was the only Pac-12 indoor program to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award this year.
Stanford's beach program was one of 22 schools to earn AVCA team recognition, joined by the University of Arizona and UCLA as the three Pac-12 recipients. It marks the fourth consecutive season the Cardinal has earned the recognition. In May, Kat Anderson, Caitlin Keefe and Shannon Richardson were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic first team, while Courtney Bowen and Hentz landed on the second team. Payton Chang and Catherine Raquel were honorable mention picks.
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 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
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 amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 973.
Full list of 2017-18 AVCA Team Academic Award recipients here.