LARAMIE, Wyo. (July 22, 2019) – The University of Wyoming Cowgirl volleyball team was one of 189 Division I teams to be named a recipient of the 2018-19 American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award on Monday afternoon. It marks the 11th consecutive season that Wyoming has received the honor.
 
The Cowgirls boasted a 3.463 overall grade-point average for the 2018-19 academic year. The Pokes also had nine players honored as Academic All-MW recipients and eight earning the honor of MW Scholar-Athletes. The team turned in another successful season on the court as well, going 20-11 overall and advancing to the postseason for the second-straight 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 AVCA Team Academic Award is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,125.
 
Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program's 25-year history, with exactly 9,586 awards been given out in total.
 
Wyoming is set to return nine players from the 2018 roster this season. Fans can get their first look at the 2019 Cowgirls next month as the team is set to host the Brown and Gold Scrimmage on Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. MT at the UniWyo Sports Complex, followed by an exhibition match against Nebraska-Kearney at Cheyenne East High School on Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m. MT.