Wheaton, Ill. - The Wheaton College volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for 2018-2019, as announced by the AVCA on Monday. 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.

The Thunder volleyball program boasted a 3.50 team GPA in the 2018-19 academic year, earning the AVCA Team Academic Award for the sixth-consecutive year. Wheaton is one of 505 NCAA women's volleyball teams honored for academic excellence. The squad is among 175 NCAA Division III honorees and one of five CCIW programs to earn the recognition.

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 more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number.