CSS Volleyball Earns Third Straight Academic Team Award

July 20, 2012

Northland Sports Online

For the third straight year and the sixth time overall, the St. Scholastica volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2011-12 season; it was announced on Friday.

A total of 90 NCAA Division III programs out of an all-time high of 533 volleyball programs across the nation earned the academic accolade for this past season.

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.

Two other Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) schools also received recognition by the AVCA: Martin Luther and Northwestern College.

The Saints are coming off their first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance after capturing a share of the league crown in the regular season and then winning the UMAC Tournament. The Saints won their first NCAA Tournament match over the College of Saint Benedict, but lost in the second round to eventual regional champion University of St. Thomas in a five-set thriller. The 2011 Saints finished with an overall record of 27-7 and 13-1 in conference play. This season the Saints bring back 2011 honorable mention All-American and UMAC Player of the Year Anna Zyvoloski (Sauk Rapids, Minn. /St. Cloud Cathedral HS (Minn.-Duluth)) and a strong recruiting class as they look to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

The 2012 season begins in just 42 days when CSS travels to the East Coast to participate in the Oneonta State (N.Y.) Invitational. They will open with Houghton College (N.Y.) on the Friday, August 31st at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

Comments can be sent to sports@northlandsportsonline.com