LEXINGTON, Ky. – The South Dakota volleyball team received the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 season. South Dakota is one of 227 Division I schools to make the list and one of 1,313 total teams to be honored, a record, breaking the 1,130 mark from a year ago.
 
The award 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 GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.1 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
 
"Once again this group of ladies have done a great job of showing what it means to be a student athlete!" said head coach Leanne Williamson. "I am so proud of how they handled the balance between academics and athletics this entire year, especially during a fall semester where they were still competing during finals and a spring semester where they were tested by having to finish their semester online.
 
"They truly are an amazing group of people and we are proud of what they continue to accomplish!"
 
The Coyotes, who posted a 3.88 team GPA during the spring semester and has a cumulative GPA of 3.70, were named to the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll that in 2020 went to the NCAA Division I team's with the top 46 GPA's nationwide.