Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics
Jazzmin Babers Named Finalist for Senior CLASS Award
Nov 03, 2016 | Volleyball
Vote for Jazzmin Babers here.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M middle blocker Jazzmin Babers has been selected one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for volleyball, it was announced today.
The 10 finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in October. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote daily on the Senior CLASS Award website through December 5. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award recipient will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Babers, from Syracuse, N.Y., has started every match of her career and has led Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament each of the last three seasons. As a junior, she helped the Aggies win the Southeastern Conference championship, and she became the eighth player in Texas A&M history to be selected to an AVCA All-America team, garnering second team honors after hitting a school season-record .412, smashing the previous record of .400 which had stood since 1984.
Babers, who leads the Aggies with a .379 hitting percentage in SEC matches this season, needs only eight block assists to break the Texas A&M all-time career record of 456. She also ranks in the top five in the school career records for total blocks and points, and she is on pace to finish second in career hitting percentage.
A member of the 2016 Preseason All-SEC Team, Babers holds the school single-match record for total blocks and block assists in a five-set match, and she holds numerous Texas A&M SEC match, season and career records.
Off the court, Babers is majoring in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in education. She also is engaged in numerous philanthropic activities. A member of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team, Babers is responsible for community outreach. She also serves as a speaker, sharing testimonies at local schools and churches. In May, Babers and several teammates went on a mission trip to Haiti to spread the gospel and do manual labor.
Other charitable activities she has participated in include spending time at the Bryan Adult Learning Center, where she volunteered in an adult ESL class, taught lessons and helped with one-on-one work; Aggies Move, teaching elementary children how to live active lives and stay healthy while also teaching them basic volleyball skills; Science Olympiad, a science competition for middle school and high school students from throughout Texas in which she helped with set up and take down, monitored and distributed tests, graded tests and was an overseer and judge for certain science competitions; The Big Event in which she helped an elderly couple prepare their home for moving out, painting, cleaning windows and boxing up their items; Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day, helping new and returning Aggies move into their dorms; Aggies CAN, a student-run food drive, and the Brazos Valley Food Bank, where she packed family food boxes. She also has volunteered at a local elementary school, working one-on-one or in small groups with students needing extra help or with advanced students needing more challenging work.
Babers and the Aggies (14-7, 8-2 SEC) begin a four-match homestand tonight as they play host to Alabama. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena. Texas A&M also plays host to Tennessee, Sunday at 1:30 p.m., and closes out the homestand next weekend, playing host to Mississippi State on Friday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m., and Georgia, Sunday at 1 p.m.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Babers and Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.
2016 Senior CLASS Award Volleyball Finalists:
Inky Ajanaku, Stanford
Jazzmin Babers, Texas A&M
Amy Boswell, BYU
Katie Brand, Kansas State
Claire Felix, UCLA
Kadie Rolfzen, Nebraska
Lauren Smith, Creighton
Hannah Tapp, Minnesota
Paige Tapp, Minnesota
Taylor Whittingham, Southern California
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M middle blocker Jazzmin Babers has been selected one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for volleyball, it was announced today.
The 10 finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 candidates announced in October. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner, and fans are encouraged to vote daily on the Senior CLASS Award website through December 5. Fan votes will then be combined with media and Division I head coaches' votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award recipient will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in December.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
Babers, from Syracuse, N.Y., has started every match of her career and has led Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament each of the last three seasons. As a junior, she helped the Aggies win the Southeastern Conference championship, and she became the eighth player in Texas A&M history to be selected to an AVCA All-America team, garnering second team honors after hitting a school season-record .412, smashing the previous record of .400 which had stood since 1984.
Babers, who leads the Aggies with a .379 hitting percentage in SEC matches this season, needs only eight block assists to break the Texas A&M all-time career record of 456. She also ranks in the top five in the school career records for total blocks and points, and she is on pace to finish second in career hitting percentage.
A member of the 2016 Preseason All-SEC Team, Babers holds the school single-match record for total blocks and block assists in a five-set match, and she holds numerous Texas A&M SEC match, season and career records.
Off the court, Babers is majoring in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in education. She also is engaged in numerous philanthropic activities. A member of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership team, Babers is responsible for community outreach. She also serves as a speaker, sharing testimonies at local schools and churches. In May, Babers and several teammates went on a mission trip to Haiti to spread the gospel and do manual labor.
Other charitable activities she has participated in include spending time at the Bryan Adult Learning Center, where she volunteered in an adult ESL class, taught lessons and helped with one-on-one work; Aggies Move, teaching elementary children how to live active lives and stay healthy while also teaching them basic volleyball skills; Science Olympiad, a science competition for middle school and high school students from throughout Texas in which she helped with set up and take down, monitored and distributed tests, graded tests and was an overseer and judge for certain science competitions; The Big Event in which she helped an elderly couple prepare their home for moving out, painting, cleaning windows and boxing up their items; Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day, helping new and returning Aggies move into their dorms; Aggies CAN, a student-run food drive, and the Brazos Valley Food Bank, where she packed family food boxes. She also has volunteered at a local elementary school, working one-on-one or in small groups with students needing extra help or with advanced students needing more challenging work.
Babers and the Aggies (14-7, 8-2 SEC) begin a four-match homestand tonight as they play host to Alabama. First serve is at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena. Texas A&M also plays host to Tennessee, Sunday at 1:30 p.m., and closes out the homestand next weekend, playing host to Mississippi State on Friday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m., and Georgia, Sunday at 1 p.m.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Babers and Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.
2016 Senior CLASS Award Volleyball Finalists:
Inky Ajanaku, Stanford
Jazzmin Babers, Texas A&M
Amy Boswell, BYU
Katie Brand, Kansas State
Claire Felix, UCLA
Kadie Rolfzen, Nebraska
Lauren Smith, Creighton
Hannah Tapp, Minnesota
Paige Tapp, Minnesota
Taylor Whittingham, Southern California
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballMedia Availability: Jamie Morrison
Monday, December 22
Media Availability: Logan Lednicky
Monday, December 22
Media Availability: Ifenna Cos-Okpalla
Monday, December 22
NCAA Championship Postgame: Morrison, Cos-Okpalla, Lednicky, Stowers
Sunday, December 21
