May 22, 2007

DESTIN, Fla. - Junior volleyball player Alyssa Hampton (Parkville, Mo.) was honored with the Sun Belt Conference Female Sporting Behavior Award, and the University of Denver was recognized for winning the conference's graduation rate award for the seventh consecutive year at the league's annual honors banquet dinner Tuesday evening at the league's spring meetings.

Hampton is the fifth Pioneer, the first since 2002, to win the SBC Sporting Behavior Award. She currently has a 3.99 grade point and is scheduled to graduate from DU's prestigious Daniels College of Business in June of 2008 with a major in Finance/Marketing. She has a minor in Business Ethics and Legal Studies, a program ranked third in the world by The Wall Street Journal for producing ethical graduates. A starter on the volleyball team, Hampton earned Academic All-American honors by CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine and was awarded the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award (2004-06).

"I am humbled to win this award," said Hampton. "It's a honor that DU would even think to nominate me when there are so many deserving student-athletes at the University of Denver. I could not have gotten here without my teammates, my family and DU's outstanding educators."

Hampton's team won the 2006 DU Athletic Department's Gold Vest, which is awarded for superior community service, leadership, academic achievement, skills for life, spirit and athletic accomplishment. She is a leader on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, serves as the All Undergraduate Student Association Senate Chair of DU Athletics and Recreation, and is a member of the Campus Crusade for Christ and the Daniels Christian Community.

"There is no better candidate for the prestigious Sun Belt Sporting Behavior Award than Alyssa," head volleyball coach Beth Kuwata said. "She has gone above and beyond in the areas of citizenship, sporting behavior, academic integrity and community involvement. What truly separates her from others is that she does all of this with amazing energy and enthusiasm and the desire to make an impact on our team, university and community."

Denver is the only school to win the SBC Graduation Rate Award since its inception in 2000. The Pioneers graduated 76 percent of their scholar-athletes in the latest findings (for the 2006 academic year), which were released by the NCAA.