MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama volleyball was recently recognized as a 2017-18 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award recipient.

The award honors collegiate and high school teams that maintain at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA. South Alabama was one of 164 NCAA Division I programs honored by the AVCA. It marked the third time in the program's history that USA has earned the distinction after receiving the award in 2010 and 2012.

"In our program, we strive to be excellent in the classroom as well as on the court," USA head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "We take the word student-athlete to heart and feel that the word student comes before athlete for a reason. Whether it is spending additional study hall hours, going to teachers' office hours or forming study groups, our girls constantly go the extra mile to make sure they are achieving in the classroom. They push each other to perform better and treat their team GPA the same way they treat the results on the volleyball court."

The AVCA Team Academic Award was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year to honor collegiate and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give.