Aug. 22, 2002

The Duquesne University women's volleyball program has been named a 2001-02 AVCA/Molten Team Academic Award honoree as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. The Dukes ranked in a tie for fourth out of 47 Division I programs with their 3.58 GPA for the 2001-02 academic year. In all, 177 college and high school programs were named by the AVCA.

The award honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average during the 2001-2002 school year.

In all, 11 Dukes boasted a 3.16 or better for the entire academic year and earned spots on the Director of Athletics' and A-10 Commissioner's Honor Rolls. Additionally, two Dukes were named to the Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference Team in senior Sherene Lemonias and sophomore Sarah Morrow.

Head Coach Steve Opperman's Dukes trailed behind only Belmont University (3.69), Liberty University (3.64) and Kansas State University (3.59) and tied the University of Alabama. The Red & Blue stood 23rd nationally on the 2000-01 AVAC/Molten academic list.

Duquesne ended the 2001 season 16-10 overall and return three starters for the 2002 campaign.

Belmont University          3.69
Liberty University          3.64
Kansas State University     3.59
Duquesne University        3.58
The University of Alabama           3.58
Eastern Washington University   3.57
Western Kentucky University     3.56
Stanford University             3.55
Montana State University            3.51
Tennessee at Martin         3.51
Winthrop University         3.50
Bowling Green State University  3.47
Stephen F. Austin State     3.47
Austin Peay State University    3.46
Wisconsin-Green Bay         3.45
Louisiana State University          3.44
Western Carolina University         3.44
Syracuse University             3.43
American University         3.42
Indiana University              3.42