Emily Bell celebrates with teammates during the 2004 NCAA Division III Tournament.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Wittenberg University's volleyball team was one of 274 high school and college programs to earn the 2004-05 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award. The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors mens and womens college and high school teams that display excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale during the school year.

"This award is a great example of how important work ethic is OFF the court," said Wittenberg Head Coach Paco Labrador, who enters his third year at the helm with a sparkling 63-10 overall record. "I am proud of each of my student-athletes for pushing themselves to be excellent students during the day and hard-working competitors in the evening."

Recipients of the award included 26 NCAA Division II programs, 43 NCAA Division III programs, 23 NAIA programs, 45 NCAA Division I womens programs, one NCAA Division I mens program, eight two-year colleges and 126 high school programs (both boys and girls). For 2003-04, the award-winning programs represent 43 states, the District of Columbia and Korea. It was the fifth time that Wittenberg has received the award.

Six of the eight 2004 NCAA Division III regional tournament champions made the list, including Wittenberg for the fifth time in school history. The Tigers, one of just two NCAC schools on the list, have earned a berth in the national tournament in 10 of the last 11 years and have reached the national quarterfinals in two of the last three campaigns.

The Tigers won the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships for an eighth straight year in 2004. Wittenberg ended the 2003 season with a 59-match NCAC regular season winning streak and 22-match NCAC Tournament winning streak. Wittenbergs 2004 season ended with a loss in the national quarterfinals with a school-best overall record of 35-3, including a mark of 8-0 in the NCAC regular season.

The Tigers return three starters and seven letterwinners in 2005, led by senior middle hitter Emily Dixon (Granville, Ohio/Granville), who is on pace to break the school record for career blocks, and sophomore outside hitter Emily Bell (Fort Wayne, Ind./Concordia Lutheran), who ranked among the team leaders in both kills and digs in her inaugural collegiate season.

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