LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team has been named a recipient of the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 academic year, as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
 
"Academics are a major priority for our program here at NIU," said head coach Ray Gooden. "We have been fortunate to have student-athletes that not only value success on the court but in the classroom as well."
 
This is the third straight year that the Huskies have earned the AVCA Team Academic Award and the eighth time in the last 10 years. The award honors collegiate and high school volleyball programs that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade point average on a 4.0 scale. NIU posted a 3.46 GPA for the 2019-20 academic year.
 
NIU had eight student-athletes selected to the Mid-American Conference Academic All-MAC team this past season. Senior Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy), juniors Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville), Amanda Rullan Vilanova (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Savannah State), and Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper), and sophomores Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon), Angie Gromos (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago), Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) and Kennedy Shelley (Burlington, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) each earned the honor for their achievements in the classroom.
 
--NIU--