Volleyball Named To AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Memphis volleyball program has earned a 2020 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, the organization announced Friday. The Tigers also were named to the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll for having one of the top 46 grade-point averages (GPA) in NCAA Division I volleyball.

It is the seventh time in the last eight years the Tigers have been awarded AVCA Team Academic distinction. The AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll recognition, which the organization began in 2017, is the first for the Tigers.

The Tigers posted a 3.64 GPA in the 2020 spring semester and a 3.52 GPA in the 2019 fall semester. To receive the honor, teams must maintain a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative GPA on a 5.0 scale.

"Receiving the AVCA Team Academic Award is another exciting 'win' for our program," said head coach Sean Burdette. "Not only does this continue our streak of receiving this award, but this year it means a little more as we also earned the distinction of placing on the AVCA Honor Roll, which signifies we have one of the nation's top GPAs."

Memphis is one of three American Athletic Conference programs to be named to the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll, joining UCF and Wichita State. The Tigers also were one of three NCAA Division I programs from the state of Tennessee on the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll list (Belmont, Middle Tennessee).

"Credit first goes out to our incredibly hard working and diligent student-athletes," Burdette continued. "They put in a tremendous amount of daily work and dedication into their academic endeavors by logging hours in the classroom, at study tables and working with our tutors, mentors and learning specialists in our top-notch Center for Athletic Academic Services (CAAS) department.

"These awards wouldn't be possible without the dedication of our volleyball staff, especially assistant coach Alexa Wharton who oversees daily academic coordination. Along with our academic counselor Lauren Lesser, Fernandez West and his entire CAAS staff, and our Faculty Athletics Representative Linda Black, we have a great foundation of support from the athletics department."

This is the 17^th time the Tigers received the AVCA recognition since the award's inception in 1993. Memphis earned its first AVCA Team Academic Award in 1999. The Tigers have been honored 15 of the last 17 years (2004-11; 2013-16; 2018-20).

For the AVCA Team Academic Award, Memphis is one of eight American Athletic Conference schools. Other league programs on the list were: Cincinnati, Connecticut, SMU, Temple, Tulane, UCF and Wichita State. The Tigers also are one of eight NCAA Division I programs from the state of Tennessee named to the list (Austin Peay, Belmont, Chattanooga, East Tennessee State, Lipscomb, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Tech).

Burdette's previous head coach stop at Green Bay saw the Phoenix receive an AVCA Team Academic Award in each of his four years (2014-17). In his head coaching tenure at Bradley from 2008-10, the Braves earned an AVCA Team Academic Award two years.

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