Saluki spikers earn AVCA Academic Award

CARBONDALE - 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 2018-19 academic year, the AVCA announced Monday.

SIU is one of a record 1,125 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.

The 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 3.33 during the 2018-19 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 1,125.

Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program's 25-year history, with exactly 9,586 awards been given out in total.

SIU opens the 2019 season Aug. 30-31 at the St. Louis Invitational. The Salukis will face Portland State, SLU and Middle Tennessee State during the two-day tournament.