LEXINGTON, Ky.- The West Chester women's volleyball team was named as one of the over 1,200 teams honored with the United States Marine Corps (USMC)/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award; it was announced on Monday. This honor marks the 12
th time and the 12
th straight year that the Golden Rams have been among the Division II programs honored with this award.
The award, currently in its 30
th year, was first presented in the 1992-93 academic year and honors collegiate and high school volleyball programs that maintain a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.30 on a 4.0 scale.
In all, from the high school to collegiate levels, 1,208 teams were honored with this award, with 148 of those programs hailing from Division II.
This honor comes on the heels of the fall 2021 season, which saw West Chester play to a record of 22-8 overall and 10-4 in league play, returning to the PSAC Tournament for the first time since the end of the 2017 season. West Chester entered as the third seed and fell to No. 2 seed Shepherd in a hard-fought match to bring the Golden Rams historic season to a close.
During the Golden Rams impressive 22-win season (which was the most single-season wins since the Purple and Gold won 24 matches in 2017), the team won 17-of-19 matches (a nine-match win streak followed by an eight-match winning streak) and had three All-Conference honorees for the first time since the end of the 2018 season.
Jamie Byrne (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) and
Julia Vreeswyk (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) each earned First Team honors, while
Olivia Rudjord (Fogelsville, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) collected Second Team honors. Byrne and Vreeswyk were the team's first First Team honorees since the 2017 season when
Jillian Grammer (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) accomplished the feat, and it was the first time since the 2009 season that the Golden Rams celebrated two First Team All-Conference honorees in the same season.
About the AVCA
The AVCA, an educationally-based nonprofit headquartered in Lexington, KY, is the largest and most diverse volleyball coaches' association in the world. With a broad mandate to develop the sport, the AVCA provides leadership, recognition, advocacy, and professional development opportunities to over 8,000 volleyball coaches. Members include college, high school, club, and youth coaches, as well as a wide variety of product and service providers. Further information is available at avca.org.
