Spartan Volleyball Earns AVCA Academic Award

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award as announced by the AVCA Wednesday, July 20.

The AVCA list consisted of 481 teams with a minimum cumulative team GPA of 3.3 during the 2010-11 academic year, including 92 Division I teams. Upstate was joined by three other Atlantic Sun Conference teams as Belmont, Lipscomb and North Florida also received the national academic honor.

"We are extremely proud that our volleyball program has received national recognition by the AVCA for their outstanding performance in the classroom last year," said Mike Hall, Director of Athletics. "The volleyball program has always been an academic leader in the athletic department. The players should be extremely proud of their accomplishments as students, while juggling the physical and mental demands of playing a sport at Upstate. Coach Calloway has always pushed her players to emphasize their academic pursuits and should be commended on her efforts in leading her team on and off the court. We couldn't be more proud of the volleyball team and their academic accomplishments."

The volleyball program led the athletic department in the spring, recording a 3.593 GPA. The squad had nine of its 11 team members named to the 2010-11 A-Sun All-Academic Team for making a 3.0 GPA or high during the fall semester. Four players received Conference Scholar nods after finishing the academic year with at least a 3.400 GPA, while one went on to earn the Presidents' Scholar award for posting a minimum GPA of 3.800.

The Team Academic Award is one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing a surge in teams honored over the past several years. Within the last decade, the number of recipients has increased by 170%. A complete list of the 2010-11 AVCA Team Academic Award recipients can be found here.