COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M middle blocker Shelby Sullivan has been selected one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for volleyball, it was announced today.
The 10 finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in September. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote daily on the Senior CLASS Award website through December 7. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award recipient will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
Vote for Shelby Sullivan at http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/volleyball_2015/
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
A three-year starting middle blocker from Richardson, Texas, Sullivan has helped lead Texas A&M to a 13-6 overall record, including a 6-2 mark in Southeastern Conference matches only, putting A&M only one-and-a-half games out of first place in the conference standings heading into tonight's match at league-leading and 20th-ranked Kentucky.
Sullivan, who began her senior campaign by being voted to the Preseason All-SEC Team by the Southeastern Conference head volleyball coaches for the second consecutive year, was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week earlier this month. The two-time Aggie team captain is hitting .374 with 2.27 kills per set this season and also is averaging 0.77 kills and 2.92 points per set. For her career, Sullivan is hitting .378, putting her on pace to shatter the Texas A&M all-time record of .342 which has stood since 1985.
As a junior, Sullivan was named Honorable Mention All-America and All-South Region by the AVCA, and she was selected to the All-SEC team for the second consecutive year.
In the classroom, the 2014 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for volleyball sports a 3.841 cumulative grade-point average as a student in Texas A&M's highly regarded Mays Business School five-year Professional Program in which she is simultaneously earning a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in finance. In 2014, Sullivan was named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Second Team, and she also received the university-wide Texas A&M Class of 2016 Class Stars Award for Academics.
Sullivan, who possesses a genuine loyalty and dedication to her school and teammates, has always demonstrated upstanding sportsmanship to friend and foe and is a tremendous ambassador for Texas A&M and its volleyball program. With the same drive, devotion and enthusiasm she has for competition and academics, Sullivan unselfishly participates in a variety of philanthropic activities throughout the campus and community. A member of Chi Omega Sorority and the Texas A&M Student Athlete Advisory Committee, she takes great pride and gets much personal enjoyment and fulfillment serving as a mentor at Still Creek Ranch, a boarding school for boys and girls who have been rescued from crisis environments, and she also has tutored students at Still Creek Christian Academy.
In addition, every year since her arrival at Texas A&M, Sullivan has used her time off during preseason two-a-day training to volunteer at the annual Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day, welcoming and helping new and returning Aggies move into their campus dorms. Some of the other activities she has participated in include packing family boxes at the Brazos Valley Food Bank, helping at the annual Hard Hats for Little Heads, an event that teaches children about the importance of wearing helmets when riding bikes, skateboarding, etc., to reduce head injuries, and assisting with Aggies CAN, one of the largest student-athlete food drives in the nation.
After matches at Kentucky tonight and at Tennessee on Sunday, Sullivan and the Aggies return home to Reed Arena, Wednesday, Nov. 4 to play host to Missouri. First serve is slated for 5 p.m., and the first 150 fans receive a free Texas A&M pint glass and a pepperoni roll. The match also will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Sullivan and Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.
Senior CLASS Award Volleyball Finalists:
Morgan Bergren, Kentucky
Jordan Burgess, Stanford
Kierra Holst, Oklahoma
Molly McCage, Texas
Taylor Morey, Wisconsin
Paige Neuenfeldt, North Carolina
Amanda Orchard, Pittsburgh
Cassie Strickland, Washington
Shelby Sullivan, Texas A&M
Nicole Walch, Florida State
The 10 finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in September. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote daily on the Senior CLASS Award website through December 7. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award recipient will be announced during the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
Vote for Shelby Sullivan at http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/volleyball_2015/
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
A three-year starting middle blocker from Richardson, Texas, Sullivan has helped lead Texas A&M to a 13-6 overall record, including a 6-2 mark in Southeastern Conference matches only, putting A&M only one-and-a-half games out of first place in the conference standings heading into tonight's match at league-leading and 20th-ranked Kentucky.
Sullivan, who began her senior campaign by being voted to the Preseason All-SEC Team by the Southeastern Conference head volleyball coaches for the second consecutive year, was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week earlier this month. The two-time Aggie team captain is hitting .374 with 2.27 kills per set this season and also is averaging 0.77 kills and 2.92 points per set. For her career, Sullivan is hitting .378, putting her on pace to shatter the Texas A&M all-time record of .342 which has stood since 1985.
As a junior, Sullivan was named Honorable Mention All-America and All-South Region by the AVCA, and she was selected to the All-SEC team for the second consecutive year.
In the classroom, the 2014 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for volleyball sports a 3.841 cumulative grade-point average as a student in Texas A&M's highly regarded Mays Business School five-year Professional Program in which she is simultaneously earning a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in finance. In 2014, Sullivan was named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District Second Team, and she also received the university-wide Texas A&M Class of 2016 Class Stars Award for Academics.
Sullivan, who possesses a genuine loyalty and dedication to her school and teammates, has always demonstrated upstanding sportsmanship to friend and foe and is a tremendous ambassador for Texas A&M and its volleyball program. With the same drive, devotion and enthusiasm she has for competition and academics, Sullivan unselfishly participates in a variety of philanthropic activities throughout the campus and community. A member of Chi Omega Sorority and the Texas A&M Student Athlete Advisory Committee, she takes great pride and gets much personal enjoyment and fulfillment serving as a mentor at Still Creek Ranch, a boarding school for boys and girls who have been rescued from crisis environments, and she also has tutored students at Still Creek Christian Academy.
In addition, every year since her arrival at Texas A&M, Sullivan has used her time off during preseason two-a-day training to volunteer at the annual Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day, welcoming and helping new and returning Aggies move into their campus dorms. Some of the other activities she has participated in include packing family boxes at the Brazos Valley Food Bank, helping at the annual Hard Hats for Little Heads, an event that teaches children about the importance of wearing helmets when riding bikes, skateboarding, etc., to reduce head injuries, and assisting with Aggies CAN, one of the largest student-athlete food drives in the nation.
After matches at Kentucky tonight and at Tennessee on Sunday, Sullivan and the Aggies return home to Reed Arena, Wednesday, Nov. 4 to play host to Missouri. First serve is slated for 5 p.m., and the first 150 fans receive a free Texas A&M pint glass and a pepperoni roll. The match also will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Sullivan and Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.
Senior CLASS Award Volleyball Finalists:
Morgan Bergren, Kentucky
Jordan Burgess, Stanford
Kierra Holst, Oklahoma
Molly McCage, Texas
Taylor Morey, Wisconsin
Paige Neuenfeldt, North Carolina
Amanda Orchard, Pittsburgh
Cassie Strickland, Washington
Shelby Sullivan, Texas A&M
Nicole Walch, Florida State