The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced that Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Southeast Missouri and SIU Edwardsville earned the 2009-10 AVCA Team Academic Award. The Gamecocks, Eagles, Redhawks and Cougars were four of the record-setting 450 teams to earn the award this year.

The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams 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 or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

The Team Academic Award has become one of the AVCA's fastest growing awards programs, seeing an impressive surge in teams honored over the past several years. The program has increased by over 300% in the last 10 years and by 79% in the past three years alone. Both NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II recorded their highest-ever total numbers of recipients, with the former honoring 94 programs and the latter honoring 55 programs. The high school division also set a new bar with its 179 honorees.

There were 119 first-time recipients of the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2009-10. NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II each saw 15 new teams achieve the honor, while NCAA Division III welcomed 17 newcomers.  Thirteen NAIA teams, two NCCAA teams and two Two-Year Colleges garnered recognition for the first time, while 55 high school teams (51 girls' teams and four boys' teams) received their first AVCA Team Academic nod.