After achieving the highest GPA in their respective sport throughout the 2018-19 season, Butler volleyball was recognized as the NJCAA Volleyball Academic Team of the Year, as released by the National Junior College Athletic Association on Monday.

Butler led all NJCAA volleyball programs with a 3.76 team grade-point average under first-year head coach Lisa Lechtenberg. Volleyball becomes the first Grizzly program to be honored with the Academic Team of the Year since football in 2014.

"This is a pretty outstanding award, which is well deserved for this team," said Lechtenberg. "Not only does the volleyball program empahisize the improtance of academics, but each of these young ladies made their academics a priority."

"We couldn't be more proud of our girls," said Grizzly assistant coach Tessa Cosby. "They not only put work in on the court, but in the classroom. What an honor to be named the Academic Team of the Year."

Both Butler athletic director Todd Carter and athletic academic coordinator Kylee Stuever echoed the statements of the Grizzly volleyball coaching staff.

"It's a tremendous honor for the volleyball program, especially in Lisa's first year," Carter said. "It's an indication of the hard work of our coaches, support staff and the students."

"Coach Lechtenberg and Coach Cosby emphasized that they wanted to set high expectations academically for their team for the get go in the fall and these young women truly went above and beyond," said Stuever. "To have a few excel on a team is pretty awesome, but to have an entire team speaks volumes about the accountability among this team."

The Grizzlies' volleyball squad had nine individuals earning NJCAA All-Academic Award honors, including four players (Alli Klausmeyer, Amalie Rupertova, Claudia Hess and Erin Goodrum) receiving first-team honors for achieving a 4.00 GPA.

Garnering All-Academic second-team honors (3.80-3.99 GPA) were Greta Lies and Nia Bishop, while Beth Schulte, Sydney Mossman and Sydney Scanlon were named to the All-Academic third team (3.60-3.79 GPA).

Butler was one of four NJCAA volleyball programs to produce a 3.7 GPA or higher – with all four coming from the Jayhawk Conference (Barton, Cloud County and Colby).