Kentucky Volleyball Earns AVCA Team Academic Award

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 17, 2018) — For the fourth consecutive season, the University of Kentucky volleyball program earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award honoring its work in the classroom for the 2017-18 season.

"I am proud of our team for their effort in the classroom," head coach Craig Skinner said. "Our academic culture is excellent and a lot of the credit goes to Amy Craiglow for helping us achieve this goal for the fourth straight year. She guides our players through their academic careers and challenges them to be their best."

UK reached the 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average in each semester during the school year. During the latest semester, the team posted a GPA of 3.418. In the fall, UK had an impressive in-season GPA of 3.654.

The AVCA honored 835 teams across all NCAA, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Junior College (JUCO) and high school. One-hundred sixty-four women’s teams in Division I were honored. Kentucky is one of seven Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools to win the award.

The 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 or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale. 

The AVCA award is one of many postseason academic accolades for UK. Thirteen members of the team — Kaz Brown, Olivia Dailey, Ashley Dusek, Leah Edmond, Emily Franklin, Jordany Fry, Harper Hempel, Merideth Jewell, Darian Mack, Brooke Morgan, Anna Nyberg, Kylie Schmaltz and McKenzie Watson — earned SEC Academic team honors. Four Wildcats — Gabby Curry, Madison Lilley, Kendyl Paris and Avery Skinner — were named to the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Kentucky was also honored for its perfect Academic Progress Rate. The APR provides a real-time look at a team's academic success by the progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The APR measures academic eligibility, retention and graduation. The scores are a four-year composite, covering the 2013-14 through the 2016-17 school years.