Volleyball Receives AVCA Team Academic Award
August 12, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team received the 2014-15 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award, the organization announced.
In order to be eligible for the award, a team must maintain a cumulative team GPA of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale. With 18 members of the 2014 OSU volleyball team posting GPAs above 3.0, the Beavers compiled a 3.35 overall GPA for the year, including a 3.50 GPA last quarter.
“It's important in our program to stress life skills and academics,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Of the 10 years that our staff has been here, we've led the Pac-12 in all-academic selections – we're No. 1 of all 12 institutions. We feel that having the ability to do well academically is going to then give you opportunities to do well in your career.”
Since 2005, the OSU volleyball program has led the Pac-12 in conference all-academic selections with 73, eight more than the next-closest Pac-12 institution (Stanford, 65). Over that span, the Beavers have also had the most first-team selections (14), as well as the second-highest number of second-team (nine) and honorable mention (50) selections.
Academic honorees in 2014 included the OSU's Tayla Woods, who was a Pac-12 All-Academic First Team selection, as well as the Beavers' Rachel Buehner, Haley Clarke, Katelyn Driscoll, Sydney Francis, Arica Nassar, Darby Reeder, Lila Toner and Laura Schaudt, each Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mentions.
“We emphasize this with our team,” Liskevych said. “It's important to me – always has been – and our team embraces that goal of getting to 3.0. Our cumulative GPA right now is 3.35 and that's outstanding.”
OSU was one of 146 NCAA Division I recipients of the honor, an award given by the AVCA since the 1992-93 academic year.
The Oregon State volleyball team will be the first team to make an appearance in Gill Coliseum this fall, as the Beavers hold their annual Orange and Black Scrimmage on Friday, August 21 at 7 p.m. PT. The event is open to the public, and admission is free.
OSU opens its 2015 campaign with a matchup against the Wichita State Shockers on Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m. PT in the first game of a weekend tournament in Honolulu. The Beavers open up their home slate on Thursday, September 24, with a Civil War matchup against the Oregon Ducks at 7 p.m. PT.
For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeavsVolleyball or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateVolleyball.
