Sports
Ferris State volleyball team receives 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award honors for classroom success
July 22, 2025
court last season. That success on the court is mirrored by success in the classroom.
The team received American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award honors
for the 2024-25 academic year.
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. —
The Ferris State University volleyball program not only achieved success on the court
during the 2024 championship season but was also highly successful in the classroom
as the Bulldogs recently received American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic
Award honors for the 2024-25 academic year.
The award, which is sponsored by INTENT and started 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.
This year marks the 11th consecutive year in which the Bulldogs have achieved AVCA
Team Academic Award recognition.
The AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by the number of
schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients
has increased nearly every year.
The number of award winners has increased from 62 during the initial year to a record
1,450 college and high school programs this year.
“It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the
2024-25 season have extended to the classroom,” AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon said. “The fact
that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of
how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals
as both students and athletes.”
The Bulldogs capped off a historic 2024 campaign last fall with a 34-1 overall record,
winning the Midwest Regional Championship for the first time since 2013 and reaching
the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. FSU reached the DII Sweet Sixteen for the fourth-straight
year, made its 13th consecutive national tournament appearance along with the 28th
in program history.
In addition, the Bulldogs also continued an impressive recent stretch by winning yet
again the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Regular Season and Tournament
Championships under National Coach of the Year Tia Brandel-Wilhelm.
The AVCA honors follow recognition for the women’s golf team, ranking among the nation’s
top squads in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Team GPA Award rankings.
The WGCA announced its Division II top 25 squads and the Bulldogs finished 12th overall
on the list with a 3.805 cumulative team grade point average in 2024-25.
Nearly 200 Ferris State student-athletes achieved GLIAC All-Academic and All-Academic
Excellence Team honors for the 2024-25 campaign. Ferris State golfer Kamryn Shannon
and tennis player Erik Kovacs earned the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award for academic and
athletic excellence.