The Cornell volleyball team worked hard throughout the 2017 campaign to put together its best season in over a decade. Thursday afternoon, several members of the team were recognized for that hard work.
Head coach Trudy Vande Berg was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year, while seniors Kiley McPeek and Kit McCarty, along with sophomore Jenna Phelps, were also honored for their performance throughout the season, being named to the All-Ivy teams.
In her just three years at the helm of the program, Vande Berg has taken her team from the league’s cellar with a 2-12 Ivy record in 2015 to this year’s 8-6 mark in the Ancient Eight, good enough for a solid third place.
“We definitely changed the culture this season in the conference in how other teams view competing against us,” agreed sophomore Samanta Arenas. “We’re not the underdogs anymore.”
Named to the All-Ivy first team, McPeek is the first Cornellian to do so since 2008. The libero averaged over five digs per set, becoming just the sixth in program history to do so. She ranks 32nd in the nation in the category.
Phelps earned a spot on the second team after leading Cornell in hitting percentage and finishing seventh the league in the stat. She also led the league in aces per set with .47.
McCarty was an honorable mention for the second time in her career. The senior hitter finished her career on a high note with double-digit kills in more than half of the team’s games. She sits at 11th in program history with 789 career kills
The Red (12-11, 8-6 Ivy) finished its 2017 season in third place in the league for its highest mark since 2006. Cornell beat every other team in the league at least once and finished with a near-perfect 9-1 record at home.
Below are the full award winners:
COACH OF THE YEAR
Trudy Vande Berg, Cornell
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.)
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.)
* – Demontes unanimous selection
^ – Denotes second team expanded due to tie in voting