March 16, 2012

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Columbus – After a 29-year hiatus, women’s volleyball returns to Columbus State University as an intercollegiate sport, CSU President Tim Mescon announced Friday.

Columbus State will play its first season in NCAA and Peach Belt Conference competition in the 2013-2014 school year.

“The enthusiasm around volleyball both at the collegiate and high school levels is infectious,” said Mescon.  “Columbus State University is very proud to expand scholarship opportunities for women student-athletes by launching our newest intercollegiate sport, volleyball. How fitting, on the heels of being recognized as the strongest athletic program in the conference in 2011 for us to continue to strategically expand our athletics to meet growing student demand.”

“I congratulate our Athletic Director Jay Sparks on this important milestone.”

"As we try to build the athletic department at CSU, we must look at additions,” Athletic Director Jay Sparks said. “To me, it is a no brainer to add volleyball.  Volleyball is already a championship sport within the Peach Belt Conference and a sport that is highly competitive throughout our conference and our region.”

Volleyball is also a rapidly growing team sport for Georgia high schools, with nearly 300 teams competing this year across the state.

“We needed more women student-athletes, and volleyball serves this need perfectly,” Sparks said. “We are tremendously excited about the prospect of NCAA volleyball on our campus."

Columbus State University has started a search to hire a head coach by the summer of 2012. The coaching staff will spend the 2012-13 academic year recruiting players, scheduling and building the program.

Columbus College fielded its first women’s volleyball team in 1966, and Mary V. Blackmon was the program’s only coach for the next 17 years, before the sport was discontinued following the 1981-82 academic year. Blackmon amassed more than 200 volleyball victories during her tenure, and in 1977 led her team to the first-ever perfect record in the Georgia Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women history as the Lady Cougars finished 11-0. 

Eight universities in CSU’s Peach Belt Conference now offer women’s volleyball, with the PBC Tournament winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

Columbus State University provides a creative, deeply personal and relevant college experience.  Just 100 miles southwest of Atlanta, Columbus State University is a proud member of the University System of Georgia, enrolling more than 8,300 students in a wide variety of degree programs, from online degrees to a doctorate in education. CSU has a nationally recognized track record of partnership and outreach through efforts such as the Cunningham Center for Leadership Development, Coca-Cola Space Science Center, Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, and its own residence – the Spencer House – in Oxford, England.