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Leah Hardeman Named 2017-18 Sun Belt Female Athlete of the Year

Leah Hardeman, previously of the Coastal Carolina indoor volleyball team and current beach volleyball student-athlete, has been named the 2017-18 Sun Belt Conference Female Athlete of the Year. The Athlete of the Year award is the highest individual honor given in the Sun Belt Conference, and is based on outstanding leadership, achievement and character.

Hardeman played her final season of indoor volleyball in the fall of 2017, nearly sweeping every honor in the Sun Belt awards while cementing her legacy in both Coastal Carolina and Sun Belt history.

The 2017 season saw Hardeman named Sun Belt Volleyball Player of the Year, Sun Belt Championship Most Outstanding Player, first team All-Sun Belt and Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. It was the second consecutive year that Hardeman claimed all four conference honors. She was additionally named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week four times throughout the season.

This past season's Sun Belt Player of the Year award was the fourth conference POY award in her career – she claimed Big South Player of the Year honors from 2014-15 and Sun Belt Player of the Year honors from 2016-17 – making her the first Division I player in NCAA volleyball history to earn a conference's POY award in all four seasons of eligibility. She also closed her indoor career with MVP titles in three straight conference tournaments (2015 Big South, 2016 and 2017 Sun Belt).

Hardeman led the Chants to conference championships in each of her four seasons in teal, culminating with the 2017 Sun Belt Championship and Coastal's fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA postseason. In the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at #9 Creighton, Hardeman registered 25 kills to become the school's all-time leader in the category with 1,811.

In beach volleyball, Hardeman posted a 5-9 record last season, and has played a role in helping to develop the young program since it started in 2016. She has one season of competition remaining with the beach program, and will return to action with the Chants in Spring 2019.

Head coach Jozsef Forman on Hardeman:

"This award is so special to both Leah and our volleyball program. She served our school with Chanticleer pride the right way. Her servant leadership is a great example for every Coastal Carolina student-athlete that will come here, as well as the community that supported her for so many years. There will be many successful student-athletes and teams in Coastal Carolina's future, but there will never be another Leah Hardeman. Everyone, both teammates and opponents, will remember her legacy. It was such a privilege to coach her, and I want to thank her for her dedication, passion, trust, leadership and hard work. I would like to thank her mother, Nita, and grandmother, Lolita, who raised her well. I would also like to thank her club coach, Del Hughes, who took Leah under his wing."

"Leah is a four-time conference champion and four-time conference player of the year, the only Division I volleyball player to ever achieve that. She is a humble, resilient and very demanding person. She wanted to be coached hard, and she wanted her teammates to challenge her. She hates losing more than she enjoys winning, and she always expected to win. I will never forget my years coaching Leah."

The 2017-18 Male Athlete of the Year award went to Taylor Lamb, the former quarterback for Appalachian State's football team.

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