CHICAGO (July 18, 2022) – For the third straight year and ninth time in the last ten seasons, the Loyola University Chicago women's volleyball program has earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award, it was announced today. The Ramblers were one of 212 NCAA Division I women's programs and one of eight current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference to receive the award.
 
Established during the 1992-93 academic year, the AVCA Team Academic Award honors volleyball teams that maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.30 on a 4.0 scale or 4.10 on a 5.0 scale. Loyola's women's volleyball team compiled a 3.475 team GPA during the 2021-22 academic year.
 
The 2021 campaign was one of Loyola's most successful in recent history on the court. Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Amanda Berkley, the Ramblers posted a 22-10 overall record and matched a program record with 14 conference victories on the way to a Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title, the program's first regular-season league crown since 2002.
 
Rising senior middle hitter Taylor Venuto (Whitmore Lake, Mich./Dexter) captured AVCA Honorable Mention All-North Region accolades, giving Loyola its first all-region performer since Lauren Holbrook in 2004.
 
Venuto and libero Grace Hinchman (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) garnered MVC Scholar-Athlete Team status, with Venuto claiming first-team honors, while Hinchman was an honorable mention designee.
 
Loyola has recorded four consecutive winning seasons under Berkley, marking the first time that has happened since doing so in eight straight years from 1997 through 2004.