The NDSU volleyball team has been honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2012-13 season. The announcement was made Aug. 7.

The award, which was initiated during the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

The Bison received the award for the 13th time overall and for the first time since the 2009-10 academic year.

“Excellence doesn’t happen by accident, either on the court or in the classroom,” said association executive director Kathy DeBoer. “It takes consistent preparation, relentless effort and determined leadership. A full year of academic achievement, by an entire team of individual students, is a remarkable achievement. What better way to start a new season than with a celebration of an award so emblematic of all that is necessary for sustained success.”

NCAA Division I recorded its highest-ever total number of recipients, honoring 130 programs.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.