Men's Soccer, Volleyball Earn BIG EAST Team Excellence Awards

NEW YORK – Seton Hall's men's soccer and women's volleyball programs were named recipients of BIG EAST Team Academic Excellence Awards for having the highest collective grade-point averages in each conference sport for the 2020-21 year.

The conference announced the 22 teams, representing 22 sports on Thursday. Nine different schools had at least one team honored, with Georgetown leading the way with eight. Villanova had the second-most with five teams recognized. Creighton had three teams recognized, followed by Seton Hall with two. Butler, Connecticut, DePaul and St. John's each had a team earn Academic Excellence accolades.

The winners were chosen based on the 2020-21 grade-point average of each student-athlete who appeared on an institution's roster as of the last contest of the championship segment in each conference-sponsored sport.

In a year of significant success on the pitch, the men's soccer team also saw great achievement in the classroom. The Pirates' 3.619 grade point average was the top mark among men's programs at Seton Hall in 2020-21. Furthermore, CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden) was a Second Team CoSIDA Division I Academic All-America selection, while Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy), JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.), Torre Avitabile (Holmdel, N.J.) and Ian Albuquerque (Sao Paulo, Brazil) were all named Seton Hall Scholar-Athlete of the Year for their respective classes.

The volleyball program posted a collective team grade point average of 3.786 during the academic year, which led all Seton Hall athletic programs. Rising junior Raygan Murray (Rocky River, Ohio) was named Seton Hall's Sophomore Scholar-Athlete of the Year and had one of the top-10 highest GPA's in the department.