Indiana University Athletics
VB Receives Academic Honor
8/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Bloomington, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball squad, under the direction of 11th-year head coach Katie Weismiller, has been recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the 2002-03 Team Academic Award. Indiana was one of only 35 Division I volleyball programs to earn such recognition. The award honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the 2002-03 school year. Teams must have maintained at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale to be recognized.
"Our volleyball teams at Indiana have always featured excellent students, but this is as good a group as we've had across the board," said Weismiller. "This award is a reflection of the importantance this university, its athletic department, and our volleyball program places on academics. With that said, academic success does not replace on-court performance. We must be successful both in the arena and in the classroom and with three NCAA Tournament appearances in the past five years, we believe we are accomplishing both objectives."
What makes this recognition even more impressive is the fact that the Hoosiers were the only Big Ten squad to earn such recognition. Indiana joins American, College of Charleston, Duke, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Northern Iowa, Nebraska, Robert Morris, Tennessee-Martin, and Winthop as the only teams nationally to earn an NCAA Tournament berth in 2002 in addition to earning the Team Academic Award.
The depth of Indiana's academic accomplishments is rather remarkable. For the past three years, out of 26 opportunities to earn Academic All-Big Ten honors, IU volleyball players earned such recognition on 25 occasions. Senior-to-be middle blocker Melissa Brewer (Bloomington, Ind./North) was named to the Verizon Academic All-District V squad, while also earning All-Big Ten and All-Mideast Region accolades for her on-court exploits.
Indiana opens its 2003 campaign on Friday, August 29, vs. Kent State in Miami, Fla.
