LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Fairleigh Dickinson women's volleyball team was presented with the United States Marine Corps (USMC)/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Awards for their effort in the classroom during the 2019-20 year.
 
"For our players to earn the USMC/AVCA Academic Award, despite going through the pandemic, is a great accomplishment," said head coach Kevin Rodgers.
 
A team must maintain a year-long GPA of 3.30 or better to receive the Team Academic Awards. There were a total of 1,313 teams between the high school and college level that received the recognition. Division I programs accounted for 227 of the teams that garnered the recognition.
 
This year's award is the sixth consecutive for the Knights, and the eighth garnered in ten years for the Knights. FDU recorded a 3.61 GPA across both the fall and spring semesters. In the fall, the Burgundy and Blue had 11 members reach the NEC Honor Roll.
 
"Our players, that live all over North America and Europe had to adapt to classes through video calls and different time zones," Rodgers added. "Some of them had to wake up at 4 a.m. to attend their classes and they persevered to increase their GPA's. I couldn't be prouder of how our team took a tough circumstance and turned it into a phenomenal team GPA."
 
FDU was one of five Northeast Conference schools to be recognized with this honor by the AVCA.