News and Events
VOLLEYBALL TEAM EARNS ACADEMIC HONOR
St. Davids, PA, August 13, 2008: The 2007 Eastern University Volleyball team (http://www.goeasterneagles.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=17&Itemid=7) earned recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for their work in the classroom.
Each year the AVCA honors programs that maintain a team grade point average of 3.3 or higher for the school year. Eastern was one of just 62 Division III institutions with programs that reached the standard. To read the full list of schools, visit: http://www.avca.org/awards/08teamacademic.asp.
“We set high standards for ourselves as a team and as individuals,” Head Coach Mark Birtwistle said. “We have always had a solid team GPA, but it is good to set this new standard for our program going forward. New players coming into our program and our returning players know that this is something that we can accomplish.”
The Eagles, who earned their first Team Academic Award, finished the year with a 3.35 team GPA. Elise Yarnell, a member of the 2007 Academic All-PAC Team, earned a 3.94 GPA for the year to lead the team. All-Conference juniors Katie Ressler and Mandy Platt both posted semester GPA's of over 3.5 to help lift the team average as well. Stephanie Weaver, who also plays softball at Eastern, carried the second highest GPA on the squad.
On the court, the Eagles cruised to an 11-0 regular season mark in the Pennsylvania Athletic League during the 2007 season. Ressler was second on the team in kills with 302, and Platt finished third with 279.
Birtwistle is looking forward to a strong class of student-athletes for the fall as Eastern's Volleyball team makes the transition to the Mid-Atlantic Conference. "The entire collegiate experience is something that we believe our student-athletes can achieve while performing in our volleyball program. We are looking forward to continued growth in excellence on and off the court."
For more information about Eastern University athletics, visit: http://www.goeasterneagles.com/.
The mission of the American Volleyball Coaches Association is to advance the development of the sport of volleyball by providing all coaches with educational programs, a forum for opinion exchange and recognition opportunities. For more information, visit http://www.avca.org/, call 859-226-4315 or e-mail: members@avca.org.
