St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Volleyball Earns AVCA Team Academic Award
7/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. - For the eighth time in program history, the St. John's volleyball team has been honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, as announced by the organization Wednesday night.
A record 478 teams received the honor for the 2010-11 academic year, including eight from the BIG EAST Conference and a total of 92 NCAA Division I squads.
The Red Storm, which last received the honor following the 2008-09 season, finished the 2010-11 academic year with a 3.31 cumulative grade-point average (GPA), eclipsing the mandatory 3.30 mark that a squad must carry to be considered for the honor.
"I'm extremely proud of the team for capturing its eighth AVCA Team Academic Award," said head coach Joanne Persico. "Earning this prestigious award for the eighth time makes us one of the top academic teams in the conference. Even more impressive is the fact that many St. John's players' primary language is not English."
STJ was previously honored in 1995-96 (3.48 GPA), 1996-97 (3.54 GPA), 1997-98 (3.44 GPA), 1999-00 (3.30 GPA), 2000-01 (3.30 GPA), 2006-07 (3.45 GPA) and 2008-09 (3.30 GPA). In addition to earning its eighth AVCA Team Academic Award, 2010-11 marks the 18th season - the entire life of the program - where the Red Storm has earned a cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or better.
Persico and the Red Storm open the 2011 campaign on Friday, Aug. 26 at Navy's Kristen Dickmann Invitational in Annapolis, Md. St. John's will play Iona and Air Force on Friday, before taking on Bowling Green and Navy on Saturday, Aug. 27.
