Eleventh year in a row for an Irish program that won its third state championship in November.
The 2017 Notre Dame Prep volleyball team was honored this week for its academic prowess by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), the 11th year in a row for the Irish, who ended last season with a state championship.
According to the AVCA, college and high school teams that receive its Team Academic Award must display 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. Notre Dame's team scored a cumulative 3.729 GPA during the school year.
In November at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, NDP put an exclamation point on an incredible season by earning a sweep (25-16, 25-17, 28-26) over Lake Odessa Lakewood in the Class B state championship match. It was the team's 53rd consecutive win of the season as the girls swept their way through every opponent during the postseason run.
Betty Wroubel, longtime coach of Irish volleyball and school athletic director is proud of her team.
"We ended up in the top 25 nationally with AVCA," she said. "Our student-athletes demonstrated an impressive combination of volleyball skills on the court and academic excellence in the classroom. What a great group of kids!"
The AVCA Team Academic Award, which is the single largest award offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches honored, was earned by 973 college and high school teams in the U.S., an all-time high for the organization. Since the 2000-2001 season, the number of recipients has increased every single year but two, while amassing a 619-team increase over the span of the last decade. Since the award's inception in 1993, the amount of award winners has increased from 62 to the current 973.
The Irish volleyball team earned the program’s third state championship in November.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org