By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The 2022-23 academic year marked the 75th anniversary of the Ohio Valley Conference, which began in 1948 and currently ranks as the eighth-oldest NCAA Division I conference.
As part of the celebration of the storied accomplishments of the league, a committee working in conjunction with current and former schools captured the “best-of-the-best” in each sport and celebrate the top athletes in league history with the 75th Anniversary Teams across all OVC sports. A similar listing was compiled during the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the league.
UT Martin accounted for three student-athletes and the lone head coach of note on the OVC 75th Anniversary Team for the sport of beach volleyball.
Dylan Mott (2021-Present)
Mott was the program’s first ever OVC Freshman of the Year and has been named an All-OVC first team honoree in each of her two seasons after redshirting in 2021. The Hendersonville, Tenn. native is responsible for four of the program’s 12 OVC Pair of the Week honors, winning twice last spring with Logan Wallick and adding two more awards alongside Karen Scanlon in 2022. She is the program’s career leader in victories out of the No. 1 position in the lineup, earning 31 of the school’s 47 all-time wins out of the top spot.
Haeleigh Paulino (2020-Present)
Hailing from Peoria, Ariz., Paulino is one of just two Skyhawks to garner All-OVC status on three separate occasions. She is the program’s all-time leader in overall victories (67) and conference wins (27), winning an astonishing 96.4 percent of her career OVC decisions with a 27-1 record. Her 31 career triumphs at No. 3 are the most in UT Martin history while her 28 wins last spring are the second-highest for a single season. She won an American Volleyball Coaches Association Top Flight Award with Jenna Vallée last season and claimed two OVC Pair of the Week awards (alongside Logan Wallick) in 2022.
Logan Wallick (2019-23)
Wallick is a three-time All-OVC performer, equaling Paulino for the most such awards in school history. Over her storied career, the Waddell, Ariz. native came away with 50 wins (third in program history), 23 OVC victories (third in school history) and a stellar .625 winning percentage. She emerged victorious in 82.1 percent (23-5 record) of her matchups against OVC competition and was one-half of four total OVC Pair of the Week awards (two with Paulino in 2021, two with Mott in 2023). Her best season came in 2021 when she teamed up with Paulino to go 15-1 overall with an unblemished 10-0 OVC mark.
Jaclynn Wilson (2017-Present)
Starting the beach volleyball program from scratch, Wilson has literally increased the Skyhawk win total in each season – capped off with an OVC-record 27 victories and the league’s first-ever perfect record (10-0) last spring. The Plain City, Ohio native has won an OVC Coaching Staff of the Year honor (alongside associate head coach Julia Noe) twice and guided UT Martin to the OVC regular season and tournament championships in each of the past two seasons. Under her guidance, the Skyhawks are the only OVC team to make an NCAA Tournament appearance – accomplishing that feat in 2022 and 2023.
Below is a listing of the top beach volleyball student-athletes and coaches in OVC history:
Marlayna Bullington, Austin Peay
Gylian Finch, Chattanooga
Hannah Keating, Morehead State
Olivia Lohmeier, Morehead State
Kelsey Mead, Austin Peay
Brooke Moore, Austin Peay
Dylan Mott, UT Martin
Haeleigh Paulino, UT Martin
Logan Wallick, UT Martin
Allison Whitten, Morehead State
Baylee Young, Chattanooga
Coaches of Note
Jaclynn Wilson, UT Martin
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information