In an award give to only 15 special individuals throughout the season, the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference presented Wilmington University volleyball outside hitter Allison Briley with the Top-XV Award for academic excellence among the teams that reached the CACC Tournament Semifinals on Thursday night at the volleyball banquet.
The award mirrors the NCAA Elite 89 Award in which the top student-athlete, with the student aspect honored, among the final four teams left in the NCAA Tournament is recognized for their achievement in the classroom.
Briley (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), who also received Second Team All-CACC accolades during the banquet hosted by Georgian Court, stood amongst the four teams in attendance with a perfect 4.0 grade point average as a sophomore. She is attaining her undergraduate degree in business management.
Briley's teammate Erin Bistany was also honored at the banquet on Thursday night, receiving her First Team All-CACC award as well as being honored for earning the CACC Rookie of the Year award, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
The banquet was held in the Wellness Center on the campus of Georgian Court University on the eve of the 2014 CACC Semifinal round starting on Friday.
Wilmington earned the South Division's No. 2 seed after a 15-4 CACC regular season record and a share of the South Division's Regular Season Title. The Wildcats moved onto the Semifinals with a 3-0 win over Dominican in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
The Wildcats now play the North Division's No. 1 seed Caldwell on Friday at 3:30 p.m.