List of 2018-19 AVCA Team Academic Award Recipients

OMAHA, Neb. -- The 2018-19 Creighton University volleyball team has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award. This is Creighton's 13th award in the last 16 seasons and 15th overall, as the Bluejays previously were honored in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA. There were 189 Division I schools that qualified for the honor in 2018-19, including all 10 teams in the BIG EAST Conference.

Last year Taryn Kloth was named Creighton's Carl M. Reinert, S.J., Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the third straight (Lauren Smith; Jaali Winters) volleyball player honored by CU. Both Kloth and Winters also earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

The Bluejay volleyball team had a GPA of 3.542 last fall and a 3.427 this spring, and owns a 3.512 cumulative GPA. Ten different women were named to Creighton's Dean's List (3.50 GPA or better) at least one semester during the 2018-19 academic year, and six different women owned a perfect 4.00 GPA at least once last year.

Creighton returns nine letterwinners and three starters from last season's team that went 29-5 and was the No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the BIG EAST Conference regular-season and tournament titles for a fifth consecutive season. Top returnees for 2019 include seniors Megan Ballenger, Madelyn Cole and Brittany Witt.

The Bluejays will report to campus on August 8th and open the regular-season on Aug. 30-31 with matches at the Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb., against Nebraska and Baylor. Creighton's regular-season home opener will be September 13 when it hosts the Bluejay Invitational, which also includes Drake, Nebraska-Omaha and Washington.