Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
Both Volleyball Programs Earn USMC/AVCA Team Academic Awards
7/13/2023 11:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball, Women's Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Saint Mary's volleyball family has a longstanding tradition of excellence on the court and in the classroom. That continued during the 2022-23 season, as both SMCVB and Saint Mary's beach volleyball were honored with the annual USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award, given to volleyball programs for their academic excellence in the classroom.
The award, which began being handed out during the 1992-93 academic year, honors volleyball programs that maintain a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.30 on a 4.00 scale, or at least a 4.10 on a 5.00 scale.
As part of a strong academic year at Saint Mary's across the board, both programs were able to keep their GPAs above 3.0 for the entire year, joining every other team in the athletics department at Saint Mary's. This marked the first year in SMC history that every varsity team had a GPA of 3.0 or better.
Ella Sandt was named First Team All-Academic via the West Coast Conference this season, while Trinity Durfee and Makenna Joyce were on the honorable mention list. For beach volleyball, both Allie Cataldo and Karmin Brown earned academic awards from the WCC and from College Sports Communicators (Academic All-District).
Across all levels encompassed by the AVCA, over 1,300 volleyball teams took home the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award for 2023. There were two programs in the country that had three teams on the list (women's, men's and beach): Stanford and Corona del Sol High School.
The 2023 indoor season begins on August 25-26 as the Gaels open the year at Weber State for the Wildcat Invitational. Saint Mary's will face Manhattan College, Utah Tech, and Weber State over the opening weekend. The home opener is scheduled for when team returns, as they face Southern Utah on September 1 at 7:00 pm inside University Credit Union.
The award, which began being handed out during the 1992-93 academic year, honors volleyball programs that maintain a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.30 on a 4.00 scale, or at least a 4.10 on a 5.00 scale.
As part of a strong academic year at Saint Mary's across the board, both programs were able to keep their GPAs above 3.0 for the entire year, joining every other team in the athletics department at Saint Mary's. This marked the first year in SMC history that every varsity team had a GPA of 3.0 or better.
Ella Sandt was named First Team All-Academic via the West Coast Conference this season, while Trinity Durfee and Makenna Joyce were on the honorable mention list. For beach volleyball, both Allie Cataldo and Karmin Brown earned academic awards from the WCC and from College Sports Communicators (Academic All-District).
Across all levels encompassed by the AVCA, over 1,300 volleyball teams took home the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award for 2023. There were two programs in the country that had three teams on the list (women's, men's and beach): Stanford and Corona del Sol High School.
The 2023 indoor season begins on August 25-26 as the Gaels open the year at Weber State for the Wildcat Invitational. Saint Mary's will face Manhattan College, Utah Tech, and Weber State over the opening weekend. The home opener is scheduled for when team returns, as they face Southern Utah on September 1 at 7:00 pm inside University Credit Union.
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
/ Women's Beach Volleyball
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