The American Volleyball Coaches Association named a record-breaking 1,450 collegiate and high school volleyball teams have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for their dominance in the classroom last year. The award honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.
 
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 8,200 volleyball coaches. Members include college, high school, club, and youth coaches, and well as a wide variety of product and service providers.
 
"It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom," says AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon. "The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes."
 
The Peacocks are ready to get back on the court this fall and report back to campus this coming weekend with practice starting on Aug. 18. Upper Iowa is scheduled to open their 2025 slate in Detroit, Michigan at the Wayne State Invitational on Sept. 5-6. UIU will line up against Cedarville University, Wayne State University, Winona State University, and Northwood University in the two-day tournament.
 
The Peacocks will host their first matches at home on Sept. 26-27 when Missouri University of Science and Technology and Maryville University visit Dorman Memorial Gymnasium for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference matches.