Southeast Missouri State volleyball recognized by AVCA for academic success

For a ninth consecutive year, the Southeast Missouri State volleyball team has been honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award.

The AVCA created the award in order to honor collegiate and high school volleyball teams that display excellence in the classroom, maintaining a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, or a 4.10 GPA on a 5.0 scale.

The Redhawks posted a 3.6 GPA for the 2015-16 season.

It is the 16th time overall that SEMO has won the award.

"I'm so proud of our athletes and their dedication to academics," Southeast coach Julie Yankus said in a press release. "We take pride in our academic success and our athletes are very focused on excelling in their majors."

Southeast was one of 132 NCAA Division I programs to earn the distinction, as did seven other Ohio Valley Conference schools.

SEMO volleyball opens its season by hosting the Redhawks Invitational on Aug. 26-27. The event will also feature New Orleans, Illinois-Chicago and Louisiana Tech.

-- From staff report