Wittenberg University Volleyball Earns 10th Team Academic Award

Tiger volleyball excelled on the court and in the classroom again in 2009.

Springfield, Ohio — Wittenberg University's volleyball team was one of a record 450 high school and college programs to earn a 2009-10 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award. The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, annually honors men's and women's college and high school teams that display excellence in the classroom 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 during the school year.

"It's great to coach a team of student-athletes who really have their priorities in order," said Wittenberg Head Coach Paco Labrador, who enters his eighth year at the helm with a sparkling 227-35 overall record. "The AVCA Team Academic Award is a well-deserved honor for the hard work that the members of this team put into their classwork. I'm very proud of them."

Recipients of the award included men's and women's programs at NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, two-year colleges and high schools throughout the country. Wittenberg, one of just five NCAA Division III women's programs in Ohio to earn the award, has been recognized by the AVCA 10 times, the second-highest total in the country.

The Tigers are also one of just three members of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) to make the list in 2009-10. In addition to the student-athletes' classroom exploits that amounted to a team grade point average of 3.4, the Tigers posted a 24-8 overall record in 2009, including NCAC regular season and tournament titles – both for the 14th time in the last 15 years. Wittenberg reached its 15th NCAA Division III Tournament and was ranked in the top 20 nationally throughout the 2009 campaign.

A stellar senior class departs, but the 2010 squad appears to have all the pieces in place for another outstanding season. Fourteen letterwinners return in 2010, led by first-team All-NCAC middle hitter Katie Sumner, class of 2012 from Dublin, Ohio, and second-team All-NCAC setter/right-side hitter Amy Cox, class of 2011 from Newark, Ohio. No player on the current roster has ever lost an NCAC match - regular season or tournament.

Their quest for the ultimate prize - a national championship - in 2010 starts with Wittenberg's National Invitational on Friday, Sept. 3 and Saturday, Sept. 4, when the Tigers take on perennial national powers St. Thomas, Wisconsin-Whitewater and California Lutheran.

Written by: Ryan Maurer
Photo by: Erin Pence

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