Among the many University of Tennessee at Martin graduates receiving their degrees Dec. 13 were several student-athletes – students who used their athletic talents as a means of earning a college degree.
One of those student-athletes was Sydney Eckhardt, a magna cum laude graduate in chemistry and a member of the Skyhawk beach volleyball team from Palm Coast, Florida, originally from Readington, New Jersey.
“I really like the versatility of beach volleyball,” she said. “I like getting to do a little bit of everything – and I just love being in the sun!”
Beach volleyball differs from indoor volleyball in that each team has five two-person teams competing in best-of-three-set matches. The first team to win three of the five matches wins the overall match. Also, indoor volleyball is a fall sport, while beach volleyball is a spring sport.
Eckhardt transferred to UT Martin in 2023 from Jacksonville University and helped the Skyhawks to a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title in 2024 and a tie for second place in the OVC standings in 2025.
She and teammate Dylan Mott earned All-OVC First Team honors in 2024 with a record of 20-8 (the most wins on the team), going 8-0 in OVC play, playing all their matches in the No. 2 spot on the team.
Last spring, Eckhardt and teammate Reagan McGee placed on the All-OVC Second Team with a record of 25-4 (tied for most wins on the team), going 9-1 in OVC play and 24-2 in the No. 4 spot on the team.
Eckhardt finished her two years as a Skyhawk with an overall record of 48-18 and a win percentage of .727, but the more important average for her is her grade-point average.
Since arriving at UT Martin in the summer of 2023, Eckhardt was named to the UTM Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in the fall 2023, spring 2024, fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters and was named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
Eckhardt graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a concentration in forensic science.
“That was what interested me going to college, the whole forensics field,” she said. “But then, I wanted to be sure I kept my major broad enough to where I could go into a couple of different things.”
Eckhardt also earned a minor in French, something she was interested in while studying at Jacksonville.
She was able to use her language skills while taking part in one of the Study Abroad programs in France during the summer to complete her coursework for her minor, having lost a couple of credits in transferring to UT Martin.
Eckhardt said she would like to work in a forensics laboratory as a toxicologist or a drug chemist.
“Typically, in chemistry, your field is on the drug side of the forensics world,” she said. “All those crime shows are super-interesting to me, so I feel like it would be really cool to work in some kind of governmental forensics lab, where I get evidence and I have to figure out what it is.”
Eckhardt said that she has been interested in crime forensics since watching forensic crime shows as a youngster.
“I’ve always had an interest in the crime TV shows like ‘Criminal Minds’ and ‘Mindhunter’ and all those crime podcasts,” she said. “I just found them all very fascinating, and I’ve always liked science as well.
“So, I kind of leaned away from the law enforcement side, but still staying in the whole crime world with forensic science.”
Eckhardt said one of her favorite instructors was Dr. Abigail Shelton, associate professor of chemistry.
“I was lucky enough to do some inorganic chemistry research with her,” she said. “She is one of my favorite human beings. She is super-helpful and so nice. She is super-smart, and I aspire to be like her.”
Eckhardt said she wished that she could have spent all of her undergraduate years at UT Martin.
“I wouldn’t change my decision to come here,” she said. “Transferring is a super-scary process, and it’s a little difficult and you don’t know where you’re going to end up, but I definitely think that I found my home and my family here.”
For more information about UT Martin, visit www.utm.edu or call 1-800-829-UTM1 (-8861).
PHOTO: UT Martin graduate Sydney Eckhardt (5), shown with beach volleyball partner Reagan McGee (12), goes up for an attack against Chattanooga in a dual match held April 9. In her two years as a Skyhawk, Eckhardt received honors from the Ohio Valley Conference in academics and in athletics for the 2023-24 school year and the 2024-25 school year.
