Elon University Names Sydel Curry-Lee As Top 10 Under 10 Recipients

Sydel Curry-Lee has been honored with being named one of the 2023 Distinguished Alumni, Top 10 Under 10 recipients at Elon University.

According to an announcement on the college’s website, the Office of Alumni Engagement and the Young Alumni Council listed the recipients. It explained that they “have achieved professional success, continuously work to better their communities and serve as loyal alumni role models.”  This weekend, the recipients were celebrated during a ceremony.

Curry-Lee graduated from the school in 2017, earning a degree in psychology. She was a women’s volleyball team member and was named MVP in 2016. Since graduating, she has worked as an entrepreneur, mental health advocate and social media content creator, and partnered with her sister-in-law, Ayesha Curry, to produce their wine label, Domaine Curry.

Curry-Lee played for three seasons at Elon and led her team and the Colonial Athletic Association in 2016 in assists per set while posting double-digit assists in all but two matches. She was named MVP that year and planned to return for a final year of eligibility but had to leave the game in February 2017 after an injury. 

According to the university’s website, Curry-Lee announced her retirement from the game in a Facebook post. She thanked the school’s coaches for giving her the opportunity to be a student-athlete and her teammates.

“It has been the experience of a lifetime. I want to thank my teammates that I have had in the last 4 years that have made my college experience one that I would like all over again a thousand times,” she wrote.

In August 2018, during Elon University’s first home volleyball game in Schar Center, a surprise announcement came that the team’s locker room in the new arena will be named for Curry-Lee.

Her brothers, Stephen and Seth Curry, along with their wives, Ayesha and Callie, made the announcement. The naming gift came as a wedding present for Curry-Lee who was set to marry her now husband Damion Lee, who currently plays for the Phoenix Suns, the weekend of the announcement. 

Curry-Lee couldn’t attend the ceremony this weekend, but shared her excitement for the honor in an Instagram Story. 

“I am honored to be recognized as Top 10 under 10! Thank you to Coach Tendler for accepting this award on my behalf! Forever grateful to @elonvb for giving me the opportunity to attend and play for the Phoenix!” she wrote. “Long Live Elon.” 

The mental health advocate recently announced on Instagram that her and her husband, Damion are currently expecting their second child. The couple, who married in 2018, are parents to Daxon, 16 months old and are expecting a baby girl this time around after undergoing IVF treatments. 

“This was our third embryo that we transferred,” she recently said on an Instagram Story where she answered fan questions. “We transferred one, the first one didn’t work when we were trying for Daxon.” The second embryo transferred was her son, and now the third embryo is the couple’s daughter. 

When asked how her pregnancy has been going since she’s already almost to the halfway point, she said it’s been “night and day” from her first pregnancy. “This pregnancy has been rough. I was nauseous, sick for the first 12,13 weeks and then on and off since then,” she said. “It was really bad.” She captioned the Instagram Story, “24/7 debilitating nausea and fatigue has been rocking my world but thankfully getting better these days.”