7th Straight AVCA Team Academic Award

The University of Findlay women's volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches' Association's Team Academic Award for the 7th straight year.

The team earned a cumulative 3.58 GPA for the 2010-2011 school year. Only 57 other NCAA Division II teams met the criteria to earn the AVCA's academic honors.

"Our players and staff place a high value on being the embodiment of student-athletes," head coach Wick Colchagoff said. "I am proud that our team is serious about their classroom responsibilities."

The team's seven-year run is tied for the sixth longest current streak in Division II.

The team academic designation comes on the heels of a season in which the Oiler volleyball team led the GLIAC with 11 players named to the conference All-Academic Team.

The AVCA 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 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

"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!".

The Oilers will look to continue their academic achievment in the 2011-2012 school year, with 8 of the 11 Academic All-GLIAC honorees returning.