Bittinger & LeMay Named Candidates for Senior Class Award
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Kent State’s Kelsey Bittinger and Western Michigan’s Sydney LeMay are two of 30 NCAA women’s volleyball student-athletes selected as candidates for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award.
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.
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.
Bittinger has logged nearly 70 hours of community service during her time at Kent State, which includes several visits to local elementary schools and an assisted living center food and school supply drives, Habitat for Humanity projects and the annual Jock Jams event, among other activities. She is one of only two Kent State players ever to earn multiple All-MAC First Team honors and one of five to total 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Bittinger currently ranks fourth all-time with 1,300 kills and seventh with 1,172 digs. This season, she leads the Flashes with a career-high 3.78 kills per set and is second on team at 3.08 digs per set.
LeMay is a three-time First Team All-MAC selection and a three-time Academic All-MAC honoree. She has been a fixture in the community, assisting with Special Olympics, making blankets for Hospice patients, helping with local elementary schools, participating in donations and moving food at Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes and has been a fixture volunteering at Kalamazoo Ministry and Community.
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in December.
