LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the 12th consecutive year, Webster University has been recognized by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with a USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 school year.
 
The Team Academic Award, initiated in 1992 by the AVCA, recognizes team who have their dedication to the sports of volleyball with excellence in the classroom. Teams must maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA on a 4.0 scale for the school year or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
 
During the recently completed 2019-20 school year, Webster's volleyball team compiled a 3.51 team grade point average.
 
"I'm very proud of the tradition of Gorlok volleyball. This is the 12th consecutive time the team has earned the AVCA award," said Webster head volleyball coach and Assistant Athletic Director Merry Graf. "The players work hard on the court, in the classroom and continue to be active in our community. This is an outstanding group of young women and I feel fortunate to work with them."
 
Webster one of four St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools to be recognized and one of a record 231 NCAA Division III women's teams to earn a USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award. In fact, the NCAA Division III women had the second highest number of schools honored as Girls High School led the way with a record 461 recipients, while NCAA Division III was next with 231 and NCAA Division I was next with a record 227 schools honored. The Gorloks had nine players earn SLIAC 2019 Fall All-Academic Team honors for having cumulative GPAs over 3.50. The other SLIAC schools named USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award winners were Blackburn College. Greenville University and Principia College.
 
Overall, the AVCA had a record 1,313 teams earn a Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 season. The 1,313 honorees breaks last year's record by almost 200 teams. 232 programs received Team Academic honors for the first time in 2019-20.
 
In addition, Webster was one of only 19 NCAA Division III Team Academic Award recipients that also reached its "Dig Pink" fundraising goals through the Side-Out Foundation. Through the last 11 years of the "Dig Pink" initiative nearly $15 million dollars has been raised for breast cancer research.

The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-01 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,313.
 
Webster posted a 17-12 overall record and finished third in the SLIAC with a 14-4 conference mark and advanced to the SLIAC Tournament for the 16th consecutive season in 2019.