Volleyball Earns USMC/AVCA Academic Award

LEXINGTON, KY – The United States Marine Corps and the American Volleyball Coaches Association recently announced that 1,333 collegiate and high school volleyball teams, including Mitchell College, earned the USMC/ACVA Team Academic Award for the 2022-23 academic year.

It marks the first time the Mitchell volleyball program has received the prestigious honor, which began in the 1992–93 academic year and honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.

"The commitment our coaches make to help their student-athletes pursue the best versions of themselves is evident in the academic accomplishments highlighted today," said AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon in a release. "Achievement on the court has always been closely tied to success in the classroom which is reflected by the number of championship programs honored."

The Mariners enjoyed success both on and off the court in the fall of 2022, posting a 12-12 record, good for the third most wins in the Division III era of the program and most since 2019. Five members of the team received Academic All-Conference honors, while the team held an overall GPA of 3.63.

The AVCA, an educationally based nonprofit headquartered in Lexington, KY, is the largest and most diverse volleyball coaches' association in the world. With a broad mandate to develop the sport, the AVCA provides leadership, recognition, advocacy, and professional development opportunities to over 8,200 volleyball coaches. Members include college, high school, club, and youth coaches, and well as a wide variety of product and service providers. Further information is available at avca.org.