The American Volleyball Coaches Association has included Northwestern State among 553 programs from all levels of collegiate competition to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2011-12 season. NSU was one of four Southland Conference schools to receive the award and two from Louisiana.

“We’re obviously extremely proud of our student-athletes,” said Lady Demon co-head coach Hugh Hernesman.

The Lady Demons had a team grade point average of 3.39 and put 10 student-athletes on the SLC Commissioners List including Kelly Jimenez, Jessica Guttierrez, and Tamara Hanna who all had a 4.0 gpa.

“They have put in a great amount of effort to not only become better volleyball players, but to also set the tone in the classroom as well,” said Hernesman. “Buying into our program and athletic department culture of academic achievement has established exactly what Stephanie (Hernesman; co-head coach) and I wanted to accomplish when we arrived 2 1Ž2 years ago.”

The award began in the 1992-93 academic year and is given to college and high school teams that maintain a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

“We believe there is a strong correlation between being disciplined in off-court responsibilities and on-court success,” said Hernesman. “ If that holds true, we should see our program continue to grow into one of the better programs in the Southland Conference.”

The Team Academic Award has been noted as one of the AVCA’s fastest growing awards. Since the 2000-01 season, the number of winners has increased all but one year, and has amassed a 200 percent increase over the span of the last decade.

“Our staff and program will continue to strive for excellence in the classroom and receiving this prestigious award from the AVCA will continue to be one of our program’s major goals,” said Hernesman. “Much credit and appreciation goes to Carrie Crowell (Head Academic Coordinator) and her staff in the academic center for all of their work with the student-athletes.”

The total of teams recognized by the AVCA made it a record-setting year for the group that is charged to develop and grow the sport of volleyball by providing a professional network for individuals and companies.