Aug. 2, 2006

Three Conference USA schools earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association GamePlan/Team Academic Award for the 2005-06 school year. Marshall, Memphis and Rice were all recipients. The three C-USA programs are three of a record 54 NCAA Division I women's programs to receive the honor.

The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale during the school year. Nominating head coaches must be AVCA members. Each school will receive a plaque, and each player a certificate commemorating the designation.

The college ranks produced 129 programs that met the requirements for the award. Over 800 different schools have won the award in the program's 14-year history, and over 2000 awards have been given out.

For complete information on the AVCA GamePlan/Team Academic Award click here: http://www.avca.org/NewsDetail.asp?id=312

BREAKDOWN BY CLASSIFICATION
Division Number of recipients
NCAA Division I Women: 54
NCAA Division II Women: 31
NCAA Division III Women: 44
NCAA Men: 1
NAIA Women: 21
Two-Year College Women: 4
High School Girls: 125
High School Boys: 7