Sports
University of Tennessee at Martin Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its annual list of Top Flight award winners today and the University of Tennessee at Martin racked up the honors. The Skyhawks placed three pairs (Kayla Bryant/Olivia O’Keefe, Lauren Mariscal/Jenna Vallée and Sydney Eckhardt/Reagan McGee) on the prestigious list, doubling the previous amount of winners the […]
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its annual list of Top Flight award winners today and the University of Tennessee at Martin racked up the honors. The Skyhawks placed three pairs (Kayla Bryant/Olivia O’Keefe, Lauren Mariscal/Jenna Vallée and Sydney Eckhardt/Reagan McGee) on the prestigious list, doubling the previous amount of winners the program had produced in the storied history of the award.
Today’s announcement marks the second career AVCA Top Flight award for both Vallée and McGee, joining Kayla Carrell as the only two-time honorees of this accolade. The six 2025 UT Martin winners join Carrell/McGee (2024), Haeleigh Paulino/Vallée (2023) and Carrell/Addison Conley (2022) as the program’s all-time recipients of this award.
Now in its seventh year, the AVCA Top Flight program recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75 percent of their matches prior to the NCAA Tournament. This year, just 88 pairs representing 45 schools from all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, and two-year colleges earned Top Flight status.
The Skyhawks were one of just eight NCAA Division I schools to boast at least three pairs on this year’s Top Flight list. Overall, 51 Division I pairs made the cut – including only a dozen recipients out of the No. 2 position in the lineup and nine apiece in both the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. UT Martin is responsible for three of the seven Ohio Valley Conference pairs on the 2025 AVCA Top Flight list.
An All-OVC first team duo, Bryant/O’Keefe become the first Skyhawks to win an AVCA Top Flight award out of the No. 2 slot in the lineup. That pair reeled off a 25-7 overall record this spring, which ranks as the most pair victories in school history. The duo actually qualified for the Top Flight award in both the No. 2 (12-3, .800 winning percentage) and No. 3 (13-4, .765) positions, going 9-1 against OVC competition. They reeled off two different winning streaks of at least nine matches in 2025, including a stretch of 20 victories in 21 decisions (with 11 wins in a row at one point) from March 14 through April 19. The tandem set a school record with three separate OVC Pair of the Week honors this spring, winning that award on March 5, March 25 and April 15.
Mariscal/Vallée are the first-ever UT Martin pair at No. 3 to claim the AVCA Top Flight award. This pair did not team up together until March 22 but went on a torrid stretch thereafter – going 13-3 (.813 winning percentage) overall with a 5-1 mark against league foes. Mariscal, the 2025 OVC Freshman of the Year, and two-time All-OVC honoree Vallée won six of their first seven matchups and eight of their last nine decisions, capping off a spectacular season with OVC Championship All-Tournament medallions.
Fresh off a selection on the All-OVC second team, Eckhardt/McGee also earned a spot on the OVC Championship All-Tournament squad. Joining forces for the first time on March 7, this pair went 25-4 overall – equaling Bryant/O’Keefe for the most single-season wins in school history – and solidified its Top Flight status at the No. 4 slot with a 24-2 mark, easily setting the school record for highest career winning percentage (.923) at that position. They won their first 14 matchups together – not suffering a loss until March 29 – and ended the season with 11 wins in their last 12 tries.
These six helped the Skyhawks finish the 2025 campaign with a 24-10 record, trailing only the 2023 squad’s 27 wins as the most in school history. UT Martin advanced to the OVC Championship finals for the fourth time in the five-year history of the tournament but narrowly fell by a 3-2 margin at Chattanooga.
Today’s announcement marks the second career AVCA Top Flight award for both Vallée and McGee, joining Kayla Carrell as the only two-time honorees of this accolade. The six 2025 UT Martin winners join Carrell/McGee (2024), Haeleigh Paulino/Vallée (2023) and Carrell/Addison Conley (2022) as the program’s all-time recipients of this award.
Now in its seventh year, the AVCA Top Flight program recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75 percent of their matches prior to the NCAA Tournament. This year, just 88 pairs representing 45 schools from all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, and two-year colleges earned Top Flight status.
The Skyhawks were one of just eight NCAA Division I schools to boast at least three pairs on this year’s Top Flight list. Overall, 51 Division I pairs made the cut – including only a dozen recipients out of the No. 2 position in the lineup and nine apiece in both the No. 3 and No. 4 spots. UT Martin is responsible for three of the seven Ohio Valley Conference pairs on the 2025 AVCA Top Flight list.
An All-OVC first team duo, Bryant/O’Keefe become the first Skyhawks to win an AVCA Top Flight award out of the No. 2 slot in the lineup. That pair reeled off a 25-7 overall record this spring, which ranks as the most pair victories in school history. The duo actually qualified for the Top Flight award in both the No. 2 (12-3, .800 winning percentage) and No. 3 (13-4, .765) positions, going 9-1 against OVC competition. They reeled off two different winning streaks of at least nine matches in 2025, including a stretch of 20 victories in 21 decisions (with 11 wins in a row at one point) from March 14 through April 19. The tandem set a school record with three separate OVC Pair of the Week honors this spring, winning that award on March 5, March 25 and April 15.
Mariscal/Vallée are the first-ever UT Martin pair at No. 3 to claim the AVCA Top Flight award. This pair did not team up together until March 22 but went on a torrid stretch thereafter – going 13-3 (.813 winning percentage) overall with a 5-1 mark against league foes. Mariscal, the 2025 OVC Freshman of the Year, and two-time All-OVC honoree Vallée won six of their first seven matchups and eight of their last nine decisions, capping off a spectacular season with OVC Championship All-Tournament medallions.
Fresh off a selection on the All-OVC second team, Eckhardt/McGee also earned a spot on the OVC Championship All-Tournament squad. Joining forces for the first time on March 7, this pair went 25-4 overall – equaling Bryant/O’Keefe for the most single-season wins in school history – and solidified its Top Flight status at the No. 4 slot with a 24-2 mark, easily setting the school record for highest career winning percentage (.923) at that position. They won their first 14 matchups together – not suffering a loss until March 29 – and ended the season with 11 wins in their last 12 tries.
These six helped the Skyhawks finish the 2025 campaign with a 24-10 record, trailing only the 2023 squad’s 27 wins as the most in school history. UT Martin advanced to the OVC Championship finals for the fourth time in the five-year history of the tournament but narrowly fell by a 3-2 margin at Chattanooga.