The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced this week that 753 teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2014-2015 season.
The Irvine Valley women's indoor team made the list.
AVCA said that the 753-teams broke the previous year's total of 687 and sets a new all-time high for this award.
Irvine Valley was one of just 24 two-year college teams to earn distinction and just one of three teams in California Community College Athletic Association volleyball to be selected. The others were Fresno City and Feather River.
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.
"A hearty congratulations to all the volleyball coaches whose teams won the AVCA Team Academic Award," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "Teams do not succeed in the classroom by accident any more so than they do on the court. The same coach who taught them volleyball skills cared enough about their academic achievement to gather their grades, calculate their GPA, and submit a nomination on their behalf.
"In doing so, these coaches sent a clear message that classroom success is just as important as volleyball success. All involved should celebrate this award!"
The AVCA Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years.
Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients have increased every single year but one, while amassing a 476 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 753.
Also prior to 2014-2015, only 22 teams had attained the pinnacle of volleyball success in both earning the AVCA Team Academic Award and winning their respective collegiate national championship in the same academic year.
This year, the AVCA was proud to recognize four programs that excelled in the classroom and on the court, including Irvine Valley, which had an unprecedented year by winning its first ever state title and finishing with a record of 27-0.
University of Tampa (NCAA Division II), Hope College (NCAA Division III) and the Stevens Institute of Technology (NCAA DIII Men's) were the other three schools.
More than 1,000 different schools have earned the Team Academic Award in the program's 23-year history, with exactly 6,878 awards been given out in total.
