LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Santa Clara University beach volleyball team earned its fourth consecutive United States Marine Corps/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award on Wednesday, with the team carrying a 3.552 cumulative Grade Point Average through the 2022-23 academic year.
 
The Broncos have been honored with the AVCA Team Academic Award in each of head coach Jeff Alzina's four years with the program (since 2020). The award adds to the Broncos' already impressive year in the classroom. The team collected eight West Coast Conference All-Academic honors in May, including two first team accolades. Still to come will be the WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll, honoring all student-athletes with at least a 3.0 GPA or above.
 
"The commitment our coaches make to help their student-athletes pursue the best versions of themselves is evident in the academic accomplishments highlighted today," said AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon in the organization's press release. "Achievement on the court has always been closely tied to success in the classroom which is reflected by the number of championship programs honored."
 
The USMC and AVCA announced Wednesday that 1,333 collegiate and high school volleyball teams earned their Team Academic Award this season, marking an all-time record number of programs honored for their academic achievements. The award, initiated in the 1992–93 academic year, honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.