PRINCESS ANNE, Md.--For the third straight year, Maryland Eastern Shore volleyball earned recognition by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). The Hawks were honored with an AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2017-18 campaign.

The volleyball student-athletes averaged a 3.61 cumulative GPA by the end of the academic year. Almost all the players ended the season with a 3.0 or above.
 
Additionally, the team was honored as the Maryland Eastern Shore Female Team of Scholars for the second year in a row. Their cumulative GPA was the highest for any team in the department.
 
Initiated in 1993 by the AVCA, the Team Academic Award honors all member institutions at both the collegiate and high school level whose participants collectively earned at least a 3.3 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
 
A record 973 teams across all AVCA levels were recipients, with 164 at the NCAA Division I level. Maryland Eastern Shore was one of two MEAC institutions honored, along with Bethune-Cookman.
 
Volleyball kicks off the 2018 campaign in August.