LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Missouri State's volleyball team was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Monday (July 16) after posting a top-25 cumulative grade point average among all Division I teams for the 2017-18 academic year. 

The Bears earned the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll designation with a top-25 GPA among 334 Division I women's programs for the second consecutive year, and made the overall AVCA Team Academic Award list for the sixth straight year.

Missouri State recorded a 3.62 cumulative GPA for the year, easily surpassing the 3.30 GPA barrier needed to qualify, notching a 3.69 GPA during the fall semester and posting a 3.56 GPA in the spring. 

MSU was the only school nationally last season with multiple CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, with Lily Johnson earning Academic All-America® of the Year honors for Division I volleyball, and Brianne Dixon earning a spot on the Third Team.

This year's award continues a stretch of academic success the Bears have enjoyed under Melissa Stokes, who enters her 23rd season as head coach at MSU this fall. Missouri State volleyball has a cumulative GPA above 3.20 since Stokes took over in 1996 and has earned the AVCA Team Academic Award following 12 of the last 16 academic years.