Volleyball, Beach VB Earn AVCA Team Academic Award
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of New Mexico’s volleyball team and beach volleyball team were honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) on Monday, as both earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2016-17 academic year.
The Lobos’ indoor team finished with a 3.39 team GPA during the Fall 2016 semester and a 3.55 team GPA during the Spring 2017 semester, while the beach team logged team GPAs of 3.46 both semesters.
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 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
“I am so proud of both of our teams for their hard work and incredible success in the classroom,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “The indoor team has been a mainstay winning the award. And It is great to see the huge progress of the beach team in showing so much improvement.
“This is also a great compliment to our academic advisor Brian Ferguson and the Student Success Center.”
The indoor squad has earned the honor nine times, previously being recognized by the AVCA in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016. The Lobos have posted 11 straight semesters — and 29 in their last 30 — with at least a 3.0 GPA.
For beach, this year’s honor is the first such selection for the program, which wrapped up its third season of competition in the spring. They have logged back-to-back program records in GPA the last two semesters.
145 Division I indoor teams earned the honor for the 2016-17 academic year, while 19 collegiate beach teams were recognized.