LEXINGTON, Ky. – North Carolina Central University was only one of two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women’s volleyball programs to earn American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2014-2015 season announced this week.

"This is great recognition for our young women that have taken their academic performance very seriously,” said NCCU Coordinator of Student-Athlete Academic Support Services Kwadjo Steele. “It is also a testament to the structure the academic support and volleyball coaching staff have put together for the NCCU volleyball program."

The Lady Eagles under second year head coach Nicki Holmes join 148 other NCAA Division I volleyball programs and a record-setting 755 total collegiate and high school volleyball teams to earn Team Academic Award distinction in 2015. Bethune-Cookman University was the only other MEAC program to earn its way onto the AVCA academic list with NCCU.

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 has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients have increased every single year but one, while amassing a 476 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 755.