The 2017 Houston High School volleyball team is among a record 973 programs who were honored for their excellence in the classroom by receiving the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award.
The award, which was initiated in the 1992-’93 academic year, recognizes 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.
Houston had a combined 3.56 GPA.
This year’s 973 nationwide recipients breaks the previous year’s total of 835 to set an all-time high.
The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award’s inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 973.
Girls’ high school led the way with 358 recipients, an increase of 81 over last year. NCAA Division III had the second-most honorees with a total of 173 schools, a 23-school increase over last year’s record number. NCAA Division I honored jumped from 145 programs to 164, while NCAA Division II notched 128 honorees.