Volleyball | 7/19/2018 11:55:00 AM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- For the second year in a row, the
Robert Morris volleyball team has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Assocation (AVCA) for its academic excellence.
The 2017 Colonials earned an AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2017-18 academic/athletic year, it was announced late Wednesday night. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 term, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
Additionally, RMU attained the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll designation for a second consecutive year, as the Colonials boasted one of the top 25 team GPA's across all of NCAA Division I: a 3.727 cumulative mark for 2017-18. It was the highest ever achieved under head coach
Dale Starr, who is entering his ninth season with the program.
This marks the seventh AVCAÂ Team Academic Award in team history and the fourth of the Starr era. Furthermore, this is the first time since the beginning of Starr's Robert Morris tenure (2010-11, 2011-12) that the volleyball team has won it in back-to-back seasons.
Thirteen of the team's 15 players finished 2017-18 with an individual GPA of 3.65 or better. Fourteen volleyball scholar-athletes, including seven rookies, made the Northeast Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll:
Maria Alfano,
Holly Brennan,
Whitney Brown,
Liz Campbell,
Skylar Clements,
Brianna Frakes,
Jessie Kaczmarek,
Alyson Londot,
Taylor Lord,
Mirna Sarjanovic,
Erika Wilt,
Deja Tamlin,
Allie Yurkovich and NEC Rookie of the Year
Emma Granger.
Meanwhile, eight of Starr's Colonials in all made the NEC Commissioner's Honor Roll: Alfano, Brennan, Brown, Clements, Kaczmarek, Londot, Sarjanovic and Wilt.
For volleyball, one of the oldest and most accomplished D-I programs offered by RMU, the fall season ended on a positive note athletically as well. Despite fielding a team eight freshmen deep, one of the youngest of his tenure, Starr guided the Colonials to an unprecedented 19th straight winning record in NEC play and 18th NEC Tournament berth in that span.
The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to a record-breaking number of 973 in 2017-18.
The number of Division I honorees jumped from 145 programs to 163 this past school year.
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
