GREENSBORO, N.C. – Freshman middle blocker Elyse Chubb (Peachtree City, Ga.) was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, Second-Team All-Conference and earned a berth on the All-Freshman team as five members of the College of Charleston volleyball team received a total of seven awards at the Southern Conference banquet Thursday, November 20.

Sophomore setter Cole Dawley (Charleston, S.C) was chosen as a Southern Conference First-Team selection while junior outside hitter Emily Sawin (New Lenox, Ill.) was named to the Second-Team and freshman libero Emily Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) earned a spot on the All-Freshman team.

Rounding out the awards on the night for the Cougars was the first Southern Conference Coach of the Year award for head coach Jason Kepner. The second-year coach guided the Cougars to a 24-6 overall record and a 17-1 mark in the conference that earned them their eighth straight regular season Southern Conference title.

Elyse Chubb has been one of the most dominant players in the league in 2008 as she leads both the Cougars and the Southern Conference with a .377 hitting percentage and 1.50 blocks per set and also adds an average of 2.59 kills. She has also made her mark on the NCAA National Rankings, coming in at 28th in hitting percentage and 33rd in blocks. Following a weekend that included a conference-high .765 hitting percentage against Western Carolina and an overall mark of .656 with nine blocks, Chubb was named the Player of the Week for the week ending November 16.

Cole Dawley earned her spot on the Southern Conference First-Team with one of the more impressive seasons by a setter in recent memory. Serving as the Cougars full-time setter for the first time, Dawley dished out 10.42 assists per set and added averages of 2.47 digs, 0.73 blocks and 1.06 kills as well as a .342 hitting percentage. During the season, she broke her career-high in assists four separate times, beginning with 51 in the season opener against Portland State. She followed that with 53 at Wofford, 57 vs. UNC Greensboro and her current career mark of 59 set against Western Carolina. Dawley also became the eighth Cougar to surpass 1,000 career assists during the season.

Emily Sawin made the Southern Conference Second-Team after leading Charleston with 3.33 kills per game and added an average of 2.10 digs. On the season, the New Lenox, Ill. native has drilled 343 kills, including the 1,000th of her career on October 25 at Appalachian State. She became the eighth College of Charleston player to reach that mark and currently has 1,093 for her career and is four kills away from moving into sixth place on the Cougars all-time kills list. During the season, Sawin also notched two significant individual accomplishments as she broke her career-high with 23 kills at Western Carolina on October 24 and then delivered a superior performance with 24 kills vs. Furman on November 2.

Emily Shelton earned her place on the All-Freshman team with an outstanding defensive season that has seen her average 4.49 digs per set. In her very first collegiate match against Portland State, she delivered what is still a career-high 31 digs and has continued that high level of play throughout the season. Shelton has 25 double-figure dig performances, including in 21 of her last 22 matches. She currently ranks 68th in the NCAA’s national rankings.

Head Coach Jason Kepner earned Coach of the Year honors following a 24-6 regular season and the program’s eighth straight Southern Conference regular season title. Kepner managed this following the loss of a number of key contributors and a roster that included six freshman. Voted on by the leagues 12 coaches, the second-year head coach beat out Dex Schroeder of 27-4 Samford. It is the sixth Coach of the Year award won by a College of Charleston coach and the fourth since moving into the Southern Conference in 1998.

The Cougars are the No. 1 seed out of the South Division in the 2008 Southern Conference Tournament and will face the No. 4 seed out of the North Division, Elon, at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, November 21.

NOTES
With Elyse Chubb being named the 2008 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, the Cougars now have four players on their roster that have accomplished the feat, including the last three in the Southern Conference ... Emily Sawin won the award in 2006, Cole Dawley in 2007 and junior transfer Jennifer Darty (Orlando, Fla.) won the Atlantic Sun’s award in 2006 ...  overall the Cougars have had six Freshman of the Year .award winners ... with three All-Southern Conference selections, the College of Charleston has had a total of 35 selections since joining the conference in 1998 and 51 total including the program’s 16 selections as a member of the Trans America Athletic Conference.

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE AWARDS

All-Conference First-Team
Cole Dawley – College of Charleston
Kayren Finney – UNC Greensboro
Branagan Fuller – UNC Greensboro
Ashley Adams – Samford
Hillary Fountain – Samford
Lara Newberry – Chattanooga

All-Conference Second-Team
Emily Sawin – College of Charleston
Elyse Chubb – College of Charleston
Alison West – Furman
Nicole Palazzo – Furman
Kaitlyn Nortz – UNC Greensboro
Kirstein Sosnowski – Samford

All-Freshman-Team
Elyse Chubb – College of Charleston
Emily Shelton – College of Charleston
Caroline Lemke – Elon
Traci Stewart – Elon
Bethany Sanford – Georgia Southern
Rachel Gadberry – Samford

Player of the Year
Ashley Adams – Samford

Freshman of the Year
Elyse Chubb – College of Charleston

Libero of the Year
Lara Newberry – Chattanooga

Coach of the Year
Jason Kepner – College of Charleston