The award honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during 2011-12 school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale.

"It's a huge honor to be one of two teams in the WAC to win this award and to win it back to back years," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "I'm proud of our student-athletes for their commitment to being great students, and we couldn't do this without the support of our administration and our academic support staff."

The Vandals are one of 102 NCAA Division I schools to earn the award, and join Utah State as the only current Western Athletic Conference members. Idaho is also the only Division I school in the state to earn the honor.