Loretto, PA -- The Saint Francis women's volleyball team was one of a record-breaking 481 teams honored for academic success with the American Volleyball Coaches' Association Team Academic Award for the 2010-11 season, it was announced Wednesday.

On a more local scale, the number of Division I recipients, including SFU, totaled 92 teams and put the Red Flash solidly near the top 20 percent in that level.

The Red Flash women's volleyball team, has been known for putting together outstanding academic semesters in the classroom. Following the spring 2011 semester, the women earned a team GPA of 3.539.

"We continue again to be thrilled about winning this award,” said head coach Chuck Mullen. “When teams have the right priorities in order, they get rewarded for it. Our student-athletes value the balance of academics and athletics and work very hard at both and it contributes to their overall well-being."

The award, which began following the 1992-93 academic year, is presented to teams on both the high school and college level, that maintain 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 increase in the number of recipients of this award has grown every year but one since the 2000-01 season and is one of the fastest growing awards programs within the AVCA. Throughout the course of the decade, this awards program has seen an overall 170% increase in the number of award winners.

"A hearty congratulations to all the volleyball coaches whose teams won the 2011 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 court success. All involved should celebrate this award!"

BREAKDOWN BY CLASSIFICATION
Division Number of recipients Percent Breakdown*

NCAA Division I Women         92   19.25%
NCAA Division II Women        57   11.92%
NCAA Division III Women       88   18.41%
NAIA Women                    30    6.28%
Two-Year College Women        12    2.51%
NCCAA Women                    2    0.42%
NCAA Collegiate Men            5    0.84%
NAIA Men                       1    0.21%
High School (Girls and Boys) 194  40.17%
High School Girls            178
High School Boys              16