LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons have been honored as one of the smartest volleyball teams in all of NCAA Division II.
 
With a sterling 3.727 team cumulative grade point average, SPU has earned a place on the Team Academic Honor Roll as announced by American Volleyball Coaches Association.
 
That award goes to the top 20 percent of the team in each of the three NCAA divisions. In D2, a total of 147 schools received academic recognition for maintaining a 3.30 or higher team GPA.
 
Of those 147 schools, 29 – including Seattle Pacific – made the Honor Roll. It is the second straight year the Falcons have earned an Honor Roll spot, and the 14th time they have made the overall AVCA academic list.
 
SPU was one of three teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference to be included in that elite group of 29, joined by Alaska Fairbanks and Central Washington.
 
This is the milestone 30th year of the AVCA academic award program.
 
Earlier in July, Seattle Pacific and Central shared the GNAC volleyball academic team award with identical 3.72 grade-point averages, with Fairbanks right behind at 3.71. The Falcons went on to win the GNAC Women's Academic All-Sports award for the second straight year.
 
Last fall, as they put together a 15-10 record on the court that included five victories against NCAA-qualifying teams, SPU players also achieved unprecedented success in the classroom, as 14 earned a place on the GNAC All-Academic team. That was nearly double the previous program record of eight.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Hair went on to earn Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Seattle Pacific begins practice for the 2022 season in early August. The 2022 schedule opens on Aug. 26-27 at the Concordia St. Paul-St. Cloud State Invitational in Minnesota.