Wake Forest Athletics
Deacs Earn AVCA Team Academic Award
7/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
By Andrew Wilson, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeVolleyball)
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Wake Forest volleyball has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as one of the organization's Team Academic Award winners for the 2014-15 season, the ACVA announced this Wednesday.
The Demon Deacons are one of a record-breaking 752 collegiate and high school level teams to earn the award, which shattered the previous mark set last year at 676. At the Division I level, 146 programs were honored with the award.
"I am excited for the team to earn this award knowing how hard they worked this past season in the classroom," head coach Ken Murczek said. "Balancing both school and volleyball is a real challenge and our squad did a wonderful job."
Only two other programs in the ACC -- Duke and Virginia Tech -- earned the award this year. The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, 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 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, or a 4.10 team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
"Teams do not succeed in the classroom by accident any more so than they do on the court," AVCA executive director Kelly DeBoer said in the organization's release. "The same coach who taught them volleyball skills cared enough about their academic achievement to gather their grades, calculate their GPA, and submit a nomination on their behalf. In doing so, these coaches sent a clear message that classroom success is just as important as volleyball success. All involved should celebrate this award!"
Entering his third year at the helm of the Demon Deacons, Murczek is looking to improve on back-to-back 16-16 campaigns in his first two seasons with Wake Forest in 2015. The Deacs open the 2015 slate on Friday, Aug. 28, in the Rambler Challenge against Northwestern and Loyola Chicago in Chicago. First serve of the opening match against Northwestern is set for 11 a.m. ET.
