LEXINGTON, Ky. – The St. Olaf College volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the fourth consecutive academic year in 2018-19, as announced on Monday.

St. Olaf was one of a record 1,125 teams across all levels of collegiate and high school volleyball to receive the award. Head coach Emily Foster's team was one of 175 NCAA Division III women's programs and 10 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) institutions among the 1,125 to be honored after posting a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.42 at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.

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 is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while more than doubling the total over the last eight academic years. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to its current number of 1,125.

St. Olaf begins its 2019 schedule with a four-match trip to California on Aug. 30-31, beginning with matches against Chapman University and the University of La Verne.