LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Slippery Rock University women's volleyball program was selected as a recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award based on the squad's outstanding cumulative GPA during the 2025-26 academic year.
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The award, which was initiated in 1992-93, 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 GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.
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Thursday's announcement marks the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, and 15th time in program history, that SRU has been bestowed with the honor. The Rock ranks fourth in the Atlantic Region, and 43rd in Division II overall out of 280 schools, in all-time AVCA Team Academic Award citations.
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Slippery Rock concluded 2025-26 with a team GPA of 3.711, its second highest mark over the last 15 years. The Rock's impressive GPA also ranked first among all volleyball programs in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
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SRU had 19 student-athletes – 86.4 percent of its entire roster - maintain a GPA of at least 3.25 including
Marley Annis,
Kaitlyn Danszczak,
Hayden Deming,
Alayna Esselink,
Brooke Farrah,
Ava Haynes,
Abby Kolcum,
Paityn Krause,
Gwen McCarthy,
Victoria Nalbach,
Kara Pasquale,
Emry Rumbaugh,
Leah Schreckengost,
Cassidy Stancombe,
Sidney Stevenson,
Addie Varnish,
Lauren VonderHaar,
Arielle Walter and
Jaeden Yost
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Kolcum, McCarthy, Pasquale, Schreckengost and Varnish all carried perfect 4.00 GPAs, while Krause, Pasquale, VonderHaar and Yost were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.
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SRU was one of nine teams from the PSAC to earn the honor from the AVCA this season. Other PSAC teams receiving Team Academic Award recognition in addition to The Rock were Bloomsburg, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Gannon, Kutztown, Millersville, Shippensburg and West Chester.
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