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Aug. 10, 2012

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - For the third consecutive year, Western Washington University has earned a Team Academic Award given by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The award, which was initiated in 1992-93, honors collegiate volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the 2011-12 school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

WWU posted a 3.46 GPA. Eleven of the Vikings' 13 players had GPAs of 3.0 or above. Leading were Emily Boerger (So., Marysville/Marysville-Pilchuck) with a perfect 4.0 GPA, Bailey Jones (Jr., Mukilteo/Kamiak) 3.94 and Laurie Yearout (Jr., Spokane/Lewis & Clark) 3.91.

The Vikings finished 16-6 last fall, tying for second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings at 14-4.

The Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, having an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. Since the 2000-01 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but one, while amassing an overall 200 percent increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the award has risen by an astounding 760 percent. NCAA II easily surpassed last year's record total of recipients with 69.

A record 536 teams from all affiliations, ranging from high school to NCAA Division I for both women and men, received the AVCA award.