Volleyball Earns Second-Straight USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award

Columbia, MO – The United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that more than 1,200 collegiate and high school volleyball teams have earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award this season. The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, 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. 

“Academic achievement does not happen by accident,” said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. “I’m so proud of the hundreds of coaching staffs that make excellence in the classroom a priority.”

Columbia College was one of 57 teams from the NAIA division that received the 2021-2022 USMC/AVCA Academic Team Award. The Cougars earned this award for the second year in-a-row; beginning a new streak after last winning the award in 2015.

Eleven different Cougars earned Academic All-AMC honors: Mikala Scott, Kate Pani, Megan Musselman, Sidney Branson, Raven Buckley, Camryn Schear, Olivia Skipworth, Ellie Crede, Camila Espejo, Ellie Rockers, and Danielle Prior. Further, Sidney Branson and Ellie Crede both earned CoSIDA Academic All-District recognition as well.