LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 19, 2021) - The United State Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that 1,275 collegiate and high school teams have earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2020-2021 season – one of which is South Dakota Mines.
In Fact the Hardrockers have now earned this academic honor for the 12th consecutive year as the team tallied a GPA of 3.64.
"Even though teams might not have played during their usual season or may not have competed at all during the past year, coaches still found ways to lead their players to academic excellence," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "This is a testament to the important role volleyball coaches play in their players success both on and off the court."
The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale or 4.10 on a 5.0 scale.
"It is a testament to our team's work ethic and commitment to being scholar-athletes that they have been once again honored with the AVCA Team Academic Award," said Hardrocker women's volleyball head coach Lauren Torvi Prochazka. "It was beyond a challenging season. Not only battling through COVID, but also with the switching competition to the spring. This program has seen a lot of obstacles, but they continue to have success both academically and athletically."
