Ephs earn 4th AVCA Team Academic Award in last 5 years

For the fourth time in the last five years Fran Vandermeer’s Williams College women’s volleyball team has earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award.

The AVCA recognized a record 409 college and high school teams this year. The award, which was initiated 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.

The Ephs were one of 76 Division III women’s teams honored out of 194 NCAA teams in Division I (71) and Division II (46).

"Each year I'm impressed all over again by the academic prowess of volleyball players," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "Total AVCA Team Academic Award winners increased this year by another 55 schools (15%) over last year's record, and, even more impressive, 22% of our four-year college teams had grade point averages of 3.2 or better."     

The AVCA Team Academic award caps off another glittering season under Vandermeer in her final season at Williams before retiring that found her Ephs winning the NESCAC and New England NCAA Regional tournaments to advance to the 2008 NCAA Elite Eight.

In her nine seasons at the helm of the Eph program Vandermeer compiled a record of 254-73 (.777) and her Ephs played in six NCAA Tournaments, including four trips to the Elite Eight.