By Jonathan Caudle, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - For the second consecutive year, Tennessee Tech volleyball was recognized as a recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Team Academic Award for the program's impressive work in the classroom throughout the 2019-20 academic year. The accolade comes after the Golden Eagles posted a 3.26 GPA during the fall and a 3.68 GPA after the spring semester and marks the seventh time overall that the Golden Eagles were honored by the AVCA for their academic excellence since 1997.
"As a staff, we could not be more proud of our team and their dedication to overcoming adversity and coming through with a big GPA number this past semester," expressed head coach Jeannette Waldo. "We ended with a 3.68, which is the highest GPA in our program's history. If that doesn't say something about the type of student-athletes we have here on our squad, then I don't know what does. We talked about controlling what we could control, and at that point, academics was our main focus. Our academic resources at Tech are top-notch and our academic staff had a great plan in place to keep us on track. Our players did a phenomenal job following these guidelines and staying disciplined. Our team is very passionate and goal-oriented, and we know they are capable of anything they set their minds to. Proud doesn't seem to fully express the emotions we feel toward our team right now, but it will have to do. We are so very proud."
In addition to being the highest GPA in the program's history, the Golden Eagles impressive spring semester marks the program's 40th-straight semester exceeding a 3.0 cumulative team GPA, a streak that dates back to the fall of 2000.
The AVCA Team Academic Award was initiated in the 1992-1993 academic year and honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that display excellence in the classroom by maintaining a 3.30 cumulative team GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative GPA on a 5.0 scale.
Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while almost tripling the total over the last 10 academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current total of 1,313.
Tech was one of 227 Division I teams that earned the academic honor, and in total 1,313 teams were recognized at all levels, shattering the previous year's total of 1,125 for an all-time record. The Golden Eagles are one of nine Ohio Valley Conference programs on the list, which includes Austin Peay, Belmont, Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri, SIUE, along with the Purple and Gold.
Photo by Jim Dillon
