2023 USMC/AVCA Team Academic Award Announcement
Following another season where the Hillsdale College volleyball team excelled on the court, the Chargers are once again receiving additional accolades for their achievements off the court as well.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association, in partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps, announced on Thursday afternoon that for another year the Chargers were once again among the record 1,333 college and high school volleyball teams from across the nation to earn the organization's Team Academic Award for the 2022-2023 school year.
The award, first given out in the 1992-93 academic year, honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale. This is the 11th time that Hillsdale has earned the award in program history, and the fourth-straight season that the Chargers have brought home the honor. 155 Division II programs won the award for the 2022-23 season.
The 2022 team's performance academically this school year was the best in head coach Chris Gravel's 27 seasons in charge of the program, as Hillsdale posted a cumulative 3.52 GPA for 2022-23 and had all 19 athletes in the program post a full year GPA of 3.0. Hillsdale's work in the classroom didn't undermine their efforts on the court, either, as the Chargers posted a 28-7 record in 2022, winning a sixth-straight G-MAC Tournament title, making the NCAA DII Tournament for the fifth-straight season and advancing to the Midwest Regional semifinal round.
Hillsdale will look to build off 2022's success both athletically and academically in the 2023 campaign coming up this fall, as the Chargers return several key pieces from last year's team, including All-American libero Alli Wiese and All-G-MAC honorees Marilyn Popplewell, Maizie Brown, Megan Kolp and Lauren Passaglia. The Chargers open the fall season on Sept. 1 in the Upper Peninsula at the Northern Michigan Open.