The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced Monday that 1,450 collegiate and high school volleyball teams, including the Foresters, have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2024-25.

This marks 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.

"It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom," says AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon. "The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes."

Coaches by Melanie Hughes, this year's Lake Forest team joins the 2022 and 2020 squads as recent recipients of the award.