July 22, 2025
Ferris State volleyball team receives 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award honors for classroom success
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.