BRIEFLY: OTAHKS GET ACADEMIC HONOR

Southeast Missouri State University's volleyball team has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with the AVCA Team Academic Award.

The award honors the teams which display excellence in the classroom by maintaining a team cumulative 3.3 grade-point average for the 1997-98 school year.

The Otahkians' team GPA of 3.54 ranked third among NCAA Division I schools, just percentage points behind Eastern Michigan (3.56) and fellow-Ohio Valley Conference member Morehead State (3.55).

Southeast volleyball coach Cindy Gannon said the honor was a special one for her team.

"We supplement athletic scholarships with academic scholarships here at Southeast and that has allowed us to be very successful," Gannon said. "Our team is to be commended for the high GPA each of them maintained throughout the year. It speaks very highly of them both as students and as athletes."

The Otahkians went 26-9 last season, winning the OVC regular-season championship for the fifth straight year. The 1998 season starts Sept. 1 when the Otahkians host St. Louis at Houck Field House.