WEST PLAINS, Mo. – The 2022-2023 Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) Grizzly Volleyball team and 11 student-athletes recently received academic honors from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
The volleyball team received one of the NJCAA’s 2022-2023 Academic Team Awards.
Five Grizzly Volleyball players, four Grizzly Basketball players and two Grizzly Softball players earned All-Academic Team honors.
“We’re proud of our student-athletes’ achievements throughout the year, both on and off the court,” Grizzly Athletic Director Rusty Laverentz said. “The off-the-court achievements, however, carry the most weight down the road because, at some point, the players are going to put away the ball or the bat.
“We want to thank the teams in the Arch W. Shaw Writing Center and the Grizzly Math and Science Tutoring Center who do a tremendous job helping our student-athletes become the best they can be in the classroom, and I want to commend the coaches for encouraging their players to stay on top of their studies and classroom assignments throughout the year. Honors such as these are a team effort, and we share this recognition with everyone who supports our student-athletes,” Laverentz added.
First team honors went to Morganne Aaron, Cabool; Ilana Assis, Chapadao do Ceu, Brazil; Sthefany Maximo, Uberlandia, Brazil; Trinity Elliott, Mountain Grove; and Alana Moesch, Lajeado, Brazil.
Grizzlies earning second team honors included Alexis Shumpert, Mountain View; and Merrick Small, Ipswich, Australia.
Third team honors were awarded to Dallas Clayton, Auckland, New Zealand; Gagi Gvalia, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Doga Kutlu, Ankara, Turkey; and Sterling White III, Chesapeake, Virginia.
NJCAA officials recognize individual student-athletes for academic honors at three levels:
• First team All-Academic Team (4.0 GPA)
• Second team All-Academic Team (3.8 to 3.99 GPA)
• Third team All-Academic Team (3.6 to 3.79)
Officials honored 10,267 student-athletes this past year for academic achievement.
Academic Team Award
To receive the Academic Team Award, 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 3.61 this past year.
Thirty teams received NJCAA Academic Team of the Year honors for posting the highest GPA in their sport; 1,078 teams received the Academic Team Award for posting cumulative GPAs over 3.0 for the year.
This year’s recognition of 5 volleyball players for individual academic awards brings the total number of such honorees in the volleyball program’s history to 73. Fourteen basketball players, including this year’s selections, have received such honors in the basketball program’s history. The two softball players who were recognized this year are the team’s first to receive NJCAA academic honors.
This is the 19th academic honor in the past 20 years for the Grizzly Volleyball team.
For more information about Grizzly Athletics, visit MSUWPGrizzlies.com.
Caption for Photo:
THESE 11 STUDENT-ATHLETES, along with the 2022 Missouri State University-West Plains (MSU-WP) Grizzly Volleyball team, recently received academic honors from National Junior College Athletic Association. The volleyball team received a 2022-2023 Academic Team award, and the student-athletes were named to the 2022-2023 NJCAA All-Academic Team. Top row from left are first team honorees Morganne Aaron, Cabool; Ilana Assis, Chapadao do Ceu, Brazil; Sthefany Maximo, Uberlandia, Brazil; Trinity Elliott, Mountain Grove; Alana Moesch, Lajeado, Brazil; and second team honoree Alexis Shumpert, Mountain View. Bottom row, second team honoree Merrick Small, Ipswich, Australia; and third team honorees Dallas Clayton, Auckland, New Zealand; Gagi Gvalia, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Doga Kutlu, Ankara, Turkey; and Sterling White III, Chesapeake, Virginia. (Missouri State-West Plains Photos)
Missouri State University-West Plains empowers students to achieve personal success and to enrich their local and global communities by providing accessible, affordable and quality educational opportunities. Missouri State-West Plains offers associate degrees and credit and non-credit courses and serves as a delivery site for bachelor’s and master’s degrees offered by Missouri State University in Springfield.
