PRINCETON, N.J. -- Three Ivy League programs were represented among the League’s women’s volleyball postseason award winners following a vote of the Ancient Eight head coaches.
Princeton sophomore right-side hitter
Maggie O’Connell was selected as the Player of the Year. Yale junior libero
Kate Swanson claimed Defensive Player of the Year honors, while teammate freshman outside hitter
Kathryn Attar was dubbed the Rookie of the Year. Cornell head coach
Trudy Vande Berg was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year after leading the Big Red to a third-place finish in her third season at the helm.
O’Connell led Princeton with 279 kills and 309 points, while hitting .283 on the season. She ranked third in the Ancient Eight in kills (279), kills per set (3.36) and points per set (3.72), while sitting fourth in points (309). In League play, O’Connell ranked fourth in kills per set (3.24) and points per set (3.60) and ninth in hitting percentage (.289). The Katy, Texas, product was also third on the team with 56 blocks. O’Connell is Princeton’s third-straight and seventh all-time Ivy League Player of the Year, following two-time Ivy League Player of the Year
Cara Mattaliano. This is the third time in Ivy League history that a program has captured three-or-more-straight Player of the Year nods, joining Cornell (1991-93) and Yale (2011-14). O’Connell, who was the Co-Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2016, reaped First Team All-Ivy honors for the second-straight season.
Swanson anchored the back row for Yale, compiling a team-high 357 digs and 4.58 digs per set on the season. The Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., native ranks second in the Ancient Eight in digs per set and third in digs. In conference play, Swanson paces the League with 5.43 digs per set and jumps to second with 266 digs. She also owns 16 service aces on the year, second on the team, and 77 assists, third on the team. Swanson is Yale’s first Defensive Player of the Year since the award was instituted in 2012. A Second Team All-Ivy selection as a sophomore (2016), Swanson cracks the First Team as a junior.
Attar paced the Bulldogs with 233 kills and 266 points during her freshman campaign. She tallied a team-best 3.29 kills per set and 3.68 points per set during League play, which each rank third in the Ancient Eight. The Tampa, Fla., product also contributed on the defensive side, averaging 2.53 digs per set to amass 205 on the season—second on the team. Attar registered seven double-doubles on the year, with six coming against conference opposition. She is Yale’s 12th Rookie of the Year honoree and sixth under 15th-year head coach
Erin Appleman. Attar joins Swanson to comprise Yale’s First Team All-Ivy tandem this season.
Vande Berg, who led the Big Red to their best Ivy League finish since 2008, is the first Ivy League Coach of the Year for Cornell since the award was instituted in 2014. Cornell compiled a 12-11 mark this season, including an 8-6 record in Ivy League play. This is the first time since 2006 that the Big Red claim a winning overall record. In three seasons, Vande Berg has turned around a Big Red program that boasts six all-time Ivy League titles—fourth in the League behind Princeton (17), Penn (10) and Yale (9). Cornell finished in the Ivy League cellar in Vande Berg’s first season in 2015, before climbing to fifth in 2016 and third in 2017.
League champions Princeton and Yale dominated the All-Ivy teams. The Tigers and Bulldogs claimed a League-high four selections each. Yale and Columbia share the League-lead with a pair of First Team honorees, while Princeton claimed an Ancient Eight-best three on the Second Team.
A trio of Second Team All-Ivy recipients—junior middle blocker
Caroline Sklaver (Miami Beach, Fla.), junior middle blocker
Nnenna Ibe (North Brunswick, N.J.) and sophomore setter
Jessie Harris (Newport Beach, Calif.)—joined O’Connell in representing Princeton following its third-straight Ivy League championship. Ibe and Sklaver are first-time All-Ivy selections, while Harris is a two-time Second Team All-Ivy (2016, 2017) setter. Both Ibe (.371) and Sklaver (.350) were among the League leaders in hitting percentage, while Harris paced the conference in assists per set (10.61).
Along with First Team honorees Swanson and Attar, Yale registered a pair of Second Team nods in sophomore outside hitter
Tristin Kott (Winter Park, Fla.) and sophomore setter
Franny Arnautou (San Francisco, Calif.). Kott hit .279 on the year with 2.40 kills per set, while Arnautou led the Bulldogs with 6.55 assists per set. Each is a first-time All-Ivy selection.
Senior right-side hitter
Anja Malesevic (Belgrade, Serbia) and sophomore middle blocker
Chichi Ikwuazom (New York, N.Y.) represented Columbia on the First Team. Malesevic paced the Ancient Eight with 4.22 kills per set and 4.77 points per set, while Ikwuazom led the League with a .387 hitting percentage and 1.34 blocks per set. Malesevic earns First Team accolades, following a Second Team All-Ivy (2016) junior campaign, while Ikwuazom lands on the First Team in back-to-back seasons to open her Lion career.
Cornell and Harvard each earned a pair of All-Ivy honors—one First Team and one Second Team—after sharing third place in the League standings.
Senior libero
Kiley McPeek (Deer Park, Ill.) and sophomore middle blocker
Jenna Phelps (Bucyrus, Kan.) were Cornell’s All-Ivy duo. Each is a first-time All-Ivy recipient. McPeek claimed First Team recognition after leading the Ancient Eight with 447 digs and 5.08 digs per set. Phelps reaped a Second Team nod after hitting .307 and topping the League with 37 service aces and .47 service aces per set. Phelps also ranked second in the Ivy League with 1.18 blocks per set and fourth with 92 blocks on the year.
Junior middle blocker
Christina Cornelius (Los Angeles, Calif.) and sophomore outside hitter
Grace Roberts-Burbank (San Francisco, Calif.) made up Harvard’s All-Ivy tandem. Cornelius earned her third All-Ivy nod and second First Team honor (2015, 2017). Roberts-Burbank claims Second Team recognition in back-to-back seasons to open her Crimson career. Both Cornelius and Roberts-Burbank were Second Team honorees in 2016. The duo led Harvard in kills, kills per set and points per set.
Penn freshman outside hitter
Parker Jones (Lafayette, Calif.) claimed a Second Team All-Ivy slot—the first of her career—after pacing the Ancient Eight in kills (318) and points (358.5).
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Maggie O’Connell, Princeton (So., RS – Katy, Texas)
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Kate Swanson, Yale (Jr., L – Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Kathryn Attar, Yale (Fr., OH – Tampa, Fla.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Trudy Vande Berg, Cornell
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
* Anja Malesevic, Columbia (Sr., RS – Belgrade, Serbia)
* Maggie O’Connell, Princeton (So., RS – Katy, Texas)
Kathryn Attar, Yale (Fr., OH – Tampa, Fla.)
Chichi Ikwuazom, Columbia (So., MB – New York, N.Y.)
Christina Cornelius, Harvard (Jr., MB – Los Angeles, Calif.)
Kiley McPeek, Cornell (Sr., L – Deer Park, Ill.)
Kate Swanson, Yale (Jr., L – Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY^
Grace Roberts-Burbank, Harvard (So., OH – San Francisco, Calif.)
Parker Jones, Penn (Fr., OH – Lafayette, Calif.)
Tristin Kott, Yale (So., OH – Winter Park, Fla.)
Jenna Phelps, Cornell (So., MB – Bucyrus, Kan.)
Caroline Sklaver, Princeton (Jr., MB – Miami Beach, Fla.)
Nnenna Ibe, Princeton (Jr., MB – North Brunswick, N.J.)
Jessie Harris, Princeton (So., S – Newport Beach, Calif.)
Franny Arnautou, Yale (So., S – San Francisco, Calif.)
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Kit McCarty, Cornell (Sr., RS – Hudson, Ohio)
Devon Peterkin, Princeton (So., OH – San Diego, Calif.)
Kelley Wirth, Yale (Jr., OH – Moraga, Calif.)
Maclaine Fields, Harvard (So., MB – Alamo, Calif.)
Tori Dozier, Dartmouth (So., S – Raleigh, N.C.)
Sydney Morton, Penn (Sr., S – Atlanta, Ga.)
Melissa Cairo, Brown (Sr., L – Hillsborough, Calif.)
*Unanimous Selection
^Second Team Expanded Due To Tie In Voting