LEXINGTON, Ky. --- The Chattanooga indoor and beach volleyball programs wrapped up their 2024-25 academic years by receiving national recognition for their work in the classroom this past year, as each team was named as a 2025 AVCA Team Academic Award winner, as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
The AVCA Team Academic Award, sponsored by INTENT, is an annual award that honors the nation's top-performing collegiate and high school volleyball programs when it comes to academics. Programs honored by the AVCA include NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA and TYC women's indoor volleyball, NCAA Division I men's indoor volleyball, NCAA beach volleyball as well as boys and girls high school volleyball.
To earn the award, a program must maintain a year-long GPA of 3.3 or higher, a mark that both UTC programs were able to surpass for 2024-25 as Chattanooga indoor volleyball posted a 3.533 while beach volleyball finished with a 3.511.
This is now the 14th consecutive year in which the indoor volleyball team has met the 3.3 minimum GPA threshold set by the AVCA. Julie Torbett Thomas, the program's head coach, has led the Mocs to an AVCA Team Academic Award in each of her first three seasons at the helm of the indoor program.
Indoor volleyball concluded the 2024-25 year with a total of 16 student-athletes being named to UTC's Dean's List, 15 of which also received a spot on UTC's AD Honor Roll. An additional three players ended up being named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
Chattanooga's beach volleyball program, under the direction of head coach Darin Van Horn, rakes in its sixth consecutive AVCA Academic Team Award dating back to 2020. Since the team's inception under Coach Van Horn, not only have the Sandy Mocs picked up the annual AVCA honor in every season of the program's existence, but Chattanooga beach volleyball has failed to log a year-long GPA lower than 3.488 in the team's short history.
In a historic year in which the Sandy Mocs went back-to-back as Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament champions, UTC beach volleyball saw a total of 14 student-athletes earn a place on the Chattanooga AD Honor Roll and 12 make their way onto the Dean's List. Additionally, four student-athletes ended up being named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
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