By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin has earned the Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award in beach volleyball for the first time in school history, the league announced today.
This marks the third year for this award in the sport of beach volleyball as Eastern Kentucky won in 2020-21 and Eastern Illinois was voted the winner for the 2021-22 campaign.
Implemented during the 2005-06 academic year, the OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards are voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports. They are bestowed upon the conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans.
“Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories,” OVC Commissioner Beth DeBauche said. “The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life.”
In 1995, the OVC implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement”, a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one’s opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
The OVC Team Sportsmanship Awards are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award.
This award caps off a remarkable 2023 Skyhawk beach volleyball season under head coach Jaclynn Wilson. UT Martin swept both the OVC regular season and tournament championships for the second straight year, making a trip to the NCAA Tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala. The Skyhawks ended the season by receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top-20 poll for five consecutive weeks after dialing up a school and conference record 27 victories against only nine setbacks.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information