Eastern Wyoming College’s 2023-2024 volleyball team earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award. The Lancers also had two players earn Region IX Academic All-American first team honors, two received second team honors, and one received honorable mention.

“I am very proud of the ladies,” Lancer head volleyball coach George Hamilton said. “These awards are a great honor. It means we are succeeding in the classroom, which is our number one goal.”

Lancers Boden Liljedahl and Siale Unufe were named Region IX First-Team Academic All-Americans. Both ladies are sophomores on this year’s team. Former Lancers Ana Djurovic and Nikoleta Tatar were named to the second-team Academic All-Americans.

“It shows our hard work, both on the court and in the classroom,” Liljedahl, a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, said. “It’s a great honor.”

The ladies have to juggle practice, travel, games, and classes every week.

“It is easy to find the time, if you are willing to make the time,” Unufe, a native of Spanish Fork, Utah said. “You can’t procrastinate.”

The team award from AVCA required the volleyball program to maintain a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale to earn the award for their classroom excellence during the recently completed academic year.

Eight Lancers are returning from last year’s Academic award-winning team.

“We have to be the role models and encourage the freshman, both on the court and in the classroom,” Liljedahl said. “I’m excited about this year.”

On the court, “we have a lot more depth,” Unufe added, “and we have a very good bond.”

The Lancers first regular season volleyball game will be against Garden City, in Garden City, Kansas on Aug. 22. The first home match will be Sept. 19-21 in the Wyo-Braska Tournament.