Carson-Newman Volleyball receives AVCA Academic Award Recognition
The Carson-Newman Indoor Volleyball team excelled both on the court and in the classroom, earning the AVCA’s Academic Award for 2025-26.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Carson-Newman Indoor Volleyball team excelled both on the court and in the classroom, earning the AVCA's Academic Award for 2025-26.
Despite a busy schedule where the Eagles made their first trip to the NCAA tournament in three years, C-N maintained high standards in the classroom. The 2026 AVCA Team Academic Award is earned by maintaining a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. The indoor squad more than cleared the AVCA's requirement for the award, holding a team GPA of 3.59 over both the fall and spring semesters.
"We are proud of our student athletes. Our culture and programs emphasize more than just the volleyball player, and I am so proud that they've been recognized for the hard work they do in the classroom," said head coach Cat Collins.
The AVCA's award comes on the heels of a season that saw academic recognition like never before. Carson-Newman Volleyball had four members selected to College Sports Communicators Academic All-District teams (Trinity Hafey, Blair Cherry, Emerson Ahsmuhs, Maddie Hurst).
What's more, Blair Cherry was selected as the South Atlantic Conference's Elite 23 winner and was named CNVB's first-ever Academic All-American. Cherry was the only player in the SAC selected on this year's list, and one of three players from the Southeast region to earn recognition.
This is the Eagles' fourth straight year earning the AVCA's Team Academic Award, and the 9th all-time award. C-N won the first of this award back in 2005.
