LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has announced that Jacksonville State has earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2009-2010 season.

The Gamecocks, who enjoyed one of their most stories seasons on the court in 2009, also excelled in the classroom. After winning the Ohio Valley Conference's regular season and tournament crowns, JSU advanced to its third NCAA Regional in five years, where they defeated Florida A&M in the first round, the program's first NCAA Tourney win. Head coach Rick Nold's group posted a 27-8 record, including an 18-1 mark in the OVC.

“I'm really proud that our girls were able to combine a championship season with such a great year academically,” Nold said. “This award is a goal of ours every year, so we're happy with the accomplishment.”

In the classroom, seven of the Gamecocks' 10 roster members earned a grade point average of 3.25 or higher, with Jen Meyer boasting a 4.0 mark that landed her the OVC Commissioner's Medal of Honor. Jax State, who received the honor for the third-straight year, is one of 94 Division I women's teams to earn the award and join Morehead State and Southeast Missouri as the OVC's only recipients.

The 450 teams, from high school through all levels of collegiate volleyball, receiving the annual honor by the AVCA, smashes the previous years' total of 409 and sets a new all-time high for the award. It was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year and 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.

“There is no better way to gauge the success of a sport than to track the accomplishments of the people who participate,” said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. “Each of these 450 teams represents 12-15 really smart kids. What a great day for the sport of volleyball.”

The Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. The program has increased by over 300 percent in the last 10 years and by 79 percent in the past three years alone. Both NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II recorded their highest-ever total numbers of recipients, with the former honoring 94 programs and the latter honoring 55 programs. The high school division also set a new bar with its 179 honorees.