2003 Squad Receives AVCA Volleyball Team Academic Award
8/3/2004 12:00:00 AM
Aug. 3, 2004
FORT WORTH, Texas -
The American Volleyball Coaches Association named a record-number 304 volleyball programs the recipients of the 2003-04 AVCA Team Academic Award, including the 2003-04 TCU Horned Frogs. The award honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.3 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale during the school year. Earlier this year, the team also received recognition as the TCU team with the highest GPA.
The 304 programs represented a 48.3 percent jump from the 205 2002-03 total. Over 700 different schools have won the award in the program's 12-year history. This is the first year TCU has earned the recognition. Recipients of the award range from NCAA Division I institutions to high school girls' and boys' teams. The college ranks produced 161 programs that met the requirements for the award. This year marked the most awards earned in Division II (31), Division III (48) and NAIA (27). Division I women's programs (46) and two-year colleges (7) listed their second-highest award totals, just shy of the 47 and nine respective classification records. An additional highlight is that Stanford University became the first-ever men's collegiate program to earn the honor.
"The AVCA Team Academic Award captures the true essence of the student-athlete, and the AVCA is honored to recognize these schools for excellence in the classroom," Katherine McConnell, AVCA executive director said. "We are especially pleased to bestow this prestigious award to a record number of teams for the third year in a row."
For further notes and history on the AVCA Team Academic Award, please go to www.avca.org/awards/04TAAfacts.asp on the AVCA website.
Each school will receive a plaque, and each player a certificate commemorating the designation. Following is a list of the programs that earned the 2003-04 AVCA Team Academic Award, including the name of the head coach for the 2003 season.
NCAA Division I (46), State, Head Coach
American University, D.C., Barry Goldberg
Appalachian State University, N.C., Chad Callihan
Austin Peay State University, Tenn., Cheryl Holt
Ball State University, Ind., Randy Litchfield
Birmingham-Southern College, Ala., Tonya Charland
Bowling Green State University, Ohio, Denise Van De Walle
Bucknell University, Pa., Cindy Opalski
College of Charleston, S.C., Sherry Dunbar
Creighton University, Neb., Kirsten Bernthal Booth
University of Denver, Colo., Beth Kuwata
Duquesne University, Pa., Steven Opperman
Eastern Washington University, Wash., Wade Benson
Elon University, N.C., Mary Tendler
Indiana State University, Ind., Julie Krofcheck
Iona College, N.Y., Bob Weiner
Jacksonville State University, Ala., Rick Nold
Kansas State University, Kan., Suzie Fritz
Lamar University, Texas, Fiona Simmons
Lipscomb University, Tenn., Brandon Rosenthal
Long Island University, N.Y., Toby Rens
The University of Memphis, Tenn., Carrie Yerty
Miami University, Ohio, Carolyn Condit
University of Missouri - Kansas City, Mo., Steve Dallman
Morehead State University,Ky., Jaime Gordon
University of Nebraska, Neb., John Cook
University of New Mexico, N.M., Kelley Sliva-McKee
Northern Arizona University, Ariz., Michelle Hansen
Northwestern University, Ill., Keylor Chan
Rice University, Texas, Genny Volpe
Seton Hall University , N.J.,Maureen Rafferty
Southeast Missouri State University, Mo., Cindy Gannon
The University of Southern Mississippi , Miss., Santiago Restrepo
Southwest Missouri State University, Mo., Melissa Stokes
Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, Debbie Humphreys
University of Tennessee at Martin, Tenn., Chris Rushing
TCU, Texas, Prentice Lewis
University of Toledo, Ohio, Kent Miller
Troy State University, Ala., Ginger Lowe
Valparaiso University, Ind., Carin Avery
University of Virginia, Va., Melissa Shelton
Virginia Tech, Va., Greg Smith
Western Michigan University, Mich., Cathy George
Wichita State University, Kan., Chris Lamb
Winthrop University, S.C., Joel McCartney
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wis., Debbie Kirch
University of Wyoming, Wy., Jim Barnes
