WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The 2015 Missouri State University-West Plains Grizzly Volleyball team and six players recently received academic honors from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
The team was named one of the NJCAA’s 2015-16 All-Academic Teams. Freshman defensive specialist Maja Petronijevic, Belgrade, Serbia, received the NJCAA Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence. Blanca Izquierdo, a freshman setter from Madrid, Spain; Stephanie Phillips, a freshman outside hitter from Thornlands, Australia; Gabby Edmondson, a sophomore outside hitter from Christchurch, New Zealand; and Susannah Kelley, a sophomore setter from Jonesboro, Arkansas, each received the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement. And, Guro Froberg, a sophomore right side attacker from Askim, Norway, received the NJCAA Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement.
“I am extremely proud of these girls and love the fact that their hard work in the classroom gets recognized,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “This is the culmination of a lot of effort put in by these players and everyone who supports them as student-athletes. Their dedication to being good students is a testament to the work they put into everything they do, and I could not be happier for them. They are a great example of good habits leading to good results.”
NJCAA officials recognize individual student-athletes for academic honors at three levels. Those who have a perfect 4.0 GPA (grade point average) receive the NJCAA Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence; those with a 3.8 to 3.99 receive the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement; and those with a 3.60 to 3.79 receive the NJCAA Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement. The GPAs for Petronijevic, Izquierdo, Phillips, Edmondson, Kelley and Froberg were 4.0, 3.87, 3.89, 3.90, 3.95 and 3.79, respectively. A total of 4,587 student-athletes met the requirements for individual academic honors this year, NJCAA officials said, adding that is a record.
To receive All-Academic Team honors, team members must have achieved a team cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. The Grizzlies had a GPA of 3.41 this past year. Twenty-seven teams received NJCAA Academic Team of the Year honors for posting the highest GPA in their sport, and 687 teams were named All-Academic Teams for posting cumulative GPAs over 3.0 for the year.
“As a team, this group did a good job in the classroom,” Wiedemann said. “We had players who put in the time to improve their habits as students, and it has paid off in many ways. This honor is the result of a lot of hard work put in by our players and everyone who supports their efforts as student-athletes. Our academic coordinator is Tori Bates, and she has done a terrific job of developing their ability to take full advantage of the resources available to them. Although awarded to the team, the honor is shared by our tremendous faculty who lead them, as well as the staff of the Advisement and Academic Coaching Center for Empowering Student Success (AACCESS) and the PAWS (Promoting Academic Success With Student-Athletes) Program, who work together with our players to make them the best students possible. They do a fantastic job!”
Implemented in spring 2002, Missouri State-West Plains’ PAWS Program consists of a group of students, faculty and staff who are dedicated to helping student-athletes develop the skills they need to excel in the classroom and provides additional assistance to student-athletes during study hall periods.
This year’s recognition of six Grizzlies for individual academic awards brings the total number of such honorees in the program’s history to 24; this is the 12th academic honor in the past 13 years for the entire team.
For more information about the Grizzly Volleyball program, visit the team’s website or call 417-255-7950.