LEXINGTON, KY— The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced today that 1,432 collegiate and high school volleyball teams earned the 2026 AVCA Team Academic Award. The Carroll Volleyball team maintained an impressive streak, once again earning the academic honor.

The award, initiated in the 1992–93 academic year, honors Indoor Men's and Women's, as well as Beach Volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale or 4.1 on a 5.0 scale.

For the 19th-consecutive season, the Fighting Saints have earned the distinction. 

Carroll currently holds the NAIA's second-longest active streak, trailing only Concordia (Neb.), who have a 28-year run earning the Team Academic Award.

In addition to the AVCA Team Academic Award, the Carroll Volleyball team once again has been named to the Team Academic Honor Roll for the NAIA. The Team Academic Honor Roll celebrates programs in the top 20 percent of GPAs for their division. Since 2022, the Saints have earned the Honor Roll distinction in all but one season.

This past spring term, the Volleyball team led the charge in Carroll's highest-recorded department GPA semester in school history with a team-wide 3.81 GPA.

The Saints were one of five Frontier Conference teams to earn the AVCA Team Academic Award, joined by Bellevue, Dakota State, MSU-Northern, and Providence.

To view the full AVCA Team Academic Award release, click HERE.