The Barton Community College volleyball program received distinguished Honor Roll academic honors Monday as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for the 2016-17 academic year.

Under first-year Head Coach Brandon Stephenson, the Cougars earned a 3.83 GPA in the classroom to rank first among NJCAA Division I schools and second overall by .03 to North Platte Community College's stellar 3.86 achievement.

"The girls worked very hard in the classroom this year with the sophomores leading the way to achieve the highest GPA in our athletic department," said Stephenson. "Not only did we lead our department, but we led all Division I programs and just missed the best GPA by .03.  Even during our busy season with all the travel, we still had a 3.6 and the girls turned it up in the spring with an incredible semester.   Add in the support of our instructors, our academic resources, and our freshman class buying into the goal, we set a lofty standard for future teams."

Recognizing the top five academic programs, the Honor Roll consisted of three Region VI members as Barton was joined by Fort Scott (3.62) and Allen County (3.57).  Fellow members Colby, Cowley, Hesston, Pratt, and Seward County completed a region haul of eight of the twenty-one awards given to two-year programs.

The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average.

More information regarding the AVCA can be found at www.avca.org.