• Aug. 3, 2016
     
    Girls Volleyball Team
     
     
    Girls’ volleyball earns AVCA Team Academic Award

    The Upper St. Clair High School girls’ volleyball team is one of only 260 high school girls’ teams in the nation to earn the 2015-16 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award. This marks the second consecutive year that USC girls’ volleyball has received this honor.

    “We are incredibly proud that for the second year in a row our girls’ volleyball team has been selected as a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award,” Alex Hinsley, USC girls’ volleyball coach, said. “I believe we are one of only two WPIAL schools to receive the award (Bishop Canevin being the other).”

    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.

    “Congratulations to the coaches and institutions that won the 2016 AVCA Team Academic Award,” Kathy DeBoer, AVCA executive director, said. “It is no accident that a volleyball coaches association recognizes academic excellence as a team, rather than an individual, achievement. Players influence each other, both in execution on the court and discipline in the classroom.”

    During the 2015-16 season, the USC girls’ volleyball team was the undefeated section champion. The Panthers finished third in the WPIAL and advanced to the PIAA quarterfinals.

    The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-01 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while amassing a 477 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 764. Girls’ high school led the way with the number of recipients of 260, an increase of 22 over last year.

    Click here to view a complete list of AVCA Team Academic Award recipients.