The University of Evansville volleyball team has been honored for its work in the classroom during the 2008-09 school year, as the Purple Aces have received the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) Team Academic Award.  It marks the fifth time in the last six years in which head coach Mike Swan’s Purple Aces have earned the award.

UE earned the 2008-09 AVCA Team Academic Award after compiling a 3.359 team grade point average this past academic year.  The award program, which began during the 1992-93 school year, honors teams that are able to maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale for a full academic year.  Overall, 71 NCAA Division I volleyball teams qualified for the honor in 2008-09, including a nation’s best eight teams from the Missouri Valley Conference.

“This is a tremendous credit to the hard work which our student-athletes put in this past school year,” said Swan.  “They worked extremely hard in the classroom this year, and that hard work paid off with a great year academically.  As a coach, I am happy to see their hard work pay off and be honored with an award like this.”

The Purple Aces will return five starters and nine letterwinners overall this fall from last year’s squad which placed sixth in the MVC and advanced to its second State Farm MVC Tournament in the last three years with a 14-18 overall record and 8-10 Valley mark.  The Purple Aces will report to campus on Sunday, August 9 in preparation for the season-opening match at Memphis on Friday, August 28.