Cal Baptist Keeps Track Record of Strong Athletics, Academics

California Baptist University kept its track record of strong and academics running with the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) release of its Team Academic Awards for 2014-15. Both the Lancers men and women received the team award. There were only seven collegiate men's volleyball programs to receive the AVCA Team Academic Award on Wednesday morning, with the Lancers being counted among them. The CBU men was also the only NCAA Division II program to receive the distinction, with four Division I and two NAIA programs being recognized. "I am extremely proud of the performance of our players in the classroom last year," Coach Derek Schmitt said. "One of our goals at the beginning of the school year was to earn this award. The AVCA Team Academic Award will continue to be a goal for our program year after year." On the women’s side, CBU was one of 114 NCAA Division II women's programs to receive the AVCA Team Academic Award. Teams qualify for the honor by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. “I am really proud of our girls for earning this award," CBU Coach Branden Higa said. "We talk a lot about competing and doing your best in everything you do and they really took hold of that and ran with it. They set the bar high and not only reached their goal, but surpassed it.”