Beach and Indoor Volleyball Recognized for Academic Achievements
Both programs peaked with team-record GPAs in the spring semester
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The United State Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced its annual Team Academic Award recipients this week. South Carolina was one of 42 beach programs nation-wide made the cut, and the indoor program ran its streak to 11 years in a row on the list.
The award recognizes college and high school volleyball teams that maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.
The beach volleyball team maintained a department-high grade point average of 3.947 for the spring semester, after also leading the athletics department with a GPA of 3.76 in the fall term. The spring GPA was also a program record. In the last two academic years alone, the beach volleyball program has paced the South Carolina athletics department in three of the four semesters. Only Georgia State and Stanford can match the Gamecocks’ current streak of team academic honors, currently six, dating back to the 2014-15 school year. On the sand this spring, the Gamecocks were ranked in the AVCA’s coaches top-20 poll throughout the abbreviated season, and rolled up three wins over teams ranked in the top 15 nationally.
The indoor volleyball team also celebrated milestones athletically and academically this school year, culminating in the program’s 12th overall time collecting the Team Academic Award honor since the AVCA started it in 1993. South Carolina is riding an 11-year streak making the cut. The Gamecocks maintained an in-season grade point average of 3.555 for the fall semester, all while making the NCAA tournament’s second round and winning 20 games, marking the first time in program history that was done in back-to-back seasons. It followed up that effort with a program-record GPA of 3.731 in the spring term.
