Storm earn AVCA Team Academic Award for 10th straight year

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- For the 10th year in a row, the Simpson volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, posting an impressive 3.54 team GPA throughout the 2017-18 season.

The award, which was 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 team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

2017-18 AVCA Team Academic Award Recipients

The Storm are one of 173 teams in Division III and 973 across all divisions and high school to qualify for the award. The Iowa Conference fared well as a whole, as eight of nine member institutions made the grade.

Simpson is a 12-time recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award, earning the distinction in 2003-04 and 2005-06 before beginning the current run of 10-straight years in 2008-09.

The Storm and 20th-year head coach Lana Smith begin the 2018 season Friday, Aug. 31 at the St. Olaf-Carleton Invitational in Northfield, Minn.