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 3.81 team cumulative GPA for the 2018-19 academic year. All 16 players carried a 3.50 or higher. The beach team turned in a 3.65 team GPA for the year with eight players holding a 3.50 or better.
In two seasons under Kevin Hambly, the indoor team has had 15 players collect Pac-12 All-Academic recognition, including eight in 2018 – Tami Alade, Audriana Fitzmorris, Kate Formico, Jenna Gray, Morgan Hentz, Meghan McClure, Kathryn Plummer and Sidney Wilson. The Cardinal was one of just two Pac-12 indoor program to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award this year.
Stanford's beach program was one of 41 schools to earn AVCA team recognition, joined by Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA as the four Pac-12 recipients. It marks the fifth consecutive season Stanford has earned the recognition. In May, seven Cardinal were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic teams - Kat Anderson, Courtney Bowen, Morgan Hentz, Shannon Richardson, Blake Sharp, Amelia Smith and Sunny Villapando.
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 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 1,125.
Full list of 2018-19 AVCA Team Academic Award recipients here.