CSU Volleyball Earns Big South Sportsmanship Award

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Head coach Danyel Bellush and the Charleston Southern women’s volleyball team have been awarded the 2011 Big South Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by the peers in the conference.  The award was announced by the league on Tuesday. 

It marks the ninth overall sportsmanship award for the Buccaneers.  They have previously received the honor for men’s golf (2010), women’s golf (2008), softball (2006), men’s indoor track & field (2007), women’s basketball (2006-07, 2007-08), football (2009) and soccer (2006). 

For the fall of 2011, Liberty University was voted the winner in three sports, followed by Virginia Military Institute with two sports and Campbell University and Charleston Southern University with one each.  The honor is part of the Big South’s Sportsmanship Awards program that began in 2005-06.

Liberty received the Big South’s Team Sportsmanship Award in women’s cross country, women’s soccer and men’s soccer, while VMI was honored in men’s cross country and football.  Campbell shared the men’s soccer honor with Liberty, and Charleston Southern was the recipient in volleyball.

The team awards are voted on by Big South student-athletes and are awarded at the end of each competitive season.  Teams cannot vote for themselves.  Each institution ranks and votes for its top three.  Teams receive three points for a first-place ranking, two points for a second-place ranking and one point for a third-place ranking.  

The Flames, who have now won 32 Team Sportsmanship Awards since the program’s inception in 2005-06, receive the honor in women’s cross country and women’s soccer for the fourth time overall and earn their first award in men’s soccer.  VMI claims its sixth plaudit in football and third honor in men’s cross country.  Charleston Southern collects its ninth overall Team Sportsmanship Award and ends Liberty’s six-year reign as the volleyball winner.  Campbell earns its first Team Sportsmanship Award in its first year back in the Big South.

At the conclusion of the 2011-12 athletic season, the Big South Conference’s Institutional Sportsmanship Award will be announced.  An institution’s sport winners count towards the Institution Sportsmanship Award and the winner is determined on a system recognizing the highest percentage of the maximum possible points each institution is capable of achieving in that year.  The institution with the highest percentage will win the award.  VMI has won the Big South’s Institutional Sportsmanship Award all six years of the award’s history.

2011-12 Big South Team Sportsmanship Award Winners
    Football:....................................... VMI
    Volleyball:................................... Charleston Southern
    Men’s Soccer:............................. Campbell, Liberty
    Women’s Soccer:....................... Liberty
    Women’s Cross Country:......... Liberty
    Men’s Cross Country:............... VMI