Volleyball wins NEC Sportsmanship Award

Volleyball wins NEC Sportsmanship Award

By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Web-Editor

The Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team received proof that it is respected around the Northeast Conference when it was awarded the NEC Fall Team Sportsmanship Award on Jan. 18.  The award was initiated in 2008 and serves as recognition for the teams that represent good sportsmanship as voted by their peers. 

“It’s a really great feeling.  I’m still grinning.  Every time I think about it, I start grinning,” head coach Robin Lamott Sparks said. 

Even though the team posted a record of 4-25 overall and 3-13 in NEC play, this award in particular exemplifies that being an athlete means more than strictly what happens on the court.

“I hope that this award shows that we work hard no matter if we win or lose and that we always have a good attitude,” said senior Kelby Carey (Surfside Colony, Calif.) of the award.

The team’s positive outlook regardless of record or score was something that defined its season, not just in the acknowledgment received from the conference, but from the inside as well.

“Our hard work and what I call ‘relentless forward motion’ is what really shows when we’re out on the court,” said junior Taylor Payne (Warwick, N.Y.).  “I think this year we really had some moments of glory where the score of the game didn’t matter to us and we won simply because we trusted each other to do our jobs and win.”

As the team is graduating three senior veterans, Carey, Kayla Lawler (Louisville, Ky.) and Brittany Garret (Ossining, N.Y.), it must prepare to maintain this positive reputation that it has established for itself.  

“When you’re doing something well you want to pass that on to the next generation,” Lamott Sparks said. 

In spite of the positive feedback from around the conference and the Quinnipiac community, the Bobcats know that there is always room to be better when it comes down respectability and quality sportsmanship.

“We can always be better people.  I think everybody would say that about themselves.  We’re just trying to continue try to improve ourselves and be better at what we do,” Lamott Sparks said.  “Being sportsmanlike when you want to win is important.  I think learning how to fight well is something that is a skill.  When we’re fighting to win a match, but doing it appropriately, it’s rewarding.”