HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College volleyball team has earned an American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2017-18 academic year, the coaches' organization announced in a release on Monday afternoon. The Fords were one of a record-breaking 973 squads to garner the award after the 2017-18 campaign. The total includes teams from all three NCAA divisions, the NAIA, USCAA, Two-year colleges, and high schools. Haverford was one of 173 women's squads honored from NCAA Division III.
The Fords were one of eight Centennial Conference teams to take home the award, joining Bryn Mawr, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Johns Hopkins, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, and Swarthmore. 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 amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 973.
In 2017, Haverford reached the 15 win mark for the sixth straight season. Zoe Wong was named to first-team All-Centennial Conference honors, representing the 17th straight campaign the Fords have placed at least one member on the first team.
The Fords begin the regular season as the Haverford hosts its annual invitational tournament on September 2 and 3. The Fords kick off the season with a matchup against Farmingdale State (Sept. 1) before returning later in the day to take on Hunter. Both of the matchups represent the first meeting between the respective squads. The second day of action sees the Fords take on Wheaton (Mass.) for the first time before a duel with Arcadia.