LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The 2015-16 Bellevue University volleyball team has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award. It marks the fourth time in school history that BU has been honored with the award. The Bruins previously received the scholastic honor in 2007-08, 2009-10 and 2011-12.
The Bruins were just one of just 54 NAIA schools to receive the prestigious 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.
"Congratulations to the coaches and institutions that won the 2016 AVCA Team Academic Award," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "It is no accident that a volleyball coaches association recognizes academic excellence as a team, rather than an individual, achievement. Players influence each other, both in execution on the court and discipline in the classroom."
The Bruins will return nine letter-winners and five starters from last season's squad that finished third in the North Star Athletic Association and received votes in the final NAIA top 25 poll. In addition, the program has added six talented newcomers, including third team NAIA All-American Pakalana Helekahi, a transfer from Ashford University, which closed its Clinton, Iowa campus earlier this year.
