Lindsey Tabbed as Co-Coach of the Year; Three Named All-Ivy

PRINCETON, N.J. – The Ivy League announced its annual year-end awards on Thursday afternoon with four members of the Dartmouth volleyball team earning recognition.

Senior Kaira Lujan and junior Emily Astarita were both named to the All-Ivy League First Team and senior Paige Caridi was recognized with a spot on the Honorable Mention Team. Additionally, Erin Lindsey was named Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with Princeton's Sabrina King.

The Big Green had one of their best seasons to date in 2015. In contention for the conference title for the first time in program history, Dartmouth ended the year last weekend in a five-set battle at Yale, wrapping up the season with an overall record of 12-11 and a program-best 9-5 mark in Ivy play.

Lujan, one of the team's captains, earned All-Ivy distinction for the first time in her four years. Throughout 2015, she appeared in 84 sets and started all but one match. She was third on the team with a career-high 186 kills, while also recording 30 digs and a .313 hitting percentage as well 11 solo blocks and 68 block assists — both career highs. On five separate occasions, she had a hitting percentage of over .500. In total, Lujan accumulated 233 points over the course of this season.

An All-Ivy Honorable Mention selection last year, Astarita saw action in and started all 88 of the team's sets. She led the team with a career-high 350 kills, had a hitting percentage of .208, and also registered 15 assists, 16 aces, 157 digs, five solo blocks and 43 block assists for 392.5 points. She has found her way into the Dartmouth all-time record book in both kills in a single season (seventh, 350) as well as in a career (10th, 850).

Throughout her final year on the team, Caridi – who served as one of the captains this year along with Lujan and Kayden Cook – appeared in all 88 of the team's set, starting all but one match. She was second on the team in both kills (254) and digs (204), had a hitting percentage of .167, and recorded 21 assists, nine aces, nine solo blocks and 32 block assists for 288 points. In her four years at Dartmouth, she accumulated 967 kills and 1,025 digs, reaching 1,000 for her career against Columbia during the team's final weekend at home in early November. She is just the 10th Big Green player ever to reach that mark. Last season, she was named a Second Team All-Ivy selection and a CoSIDA Academic All-District Second-Team honoree.

Lindsey became the first coach in Dartmouth's program history to be named the Coach of the Year in the Ivy League as she shares the distinction with King in 2015. Since joining the Big Green in 2011, Lindsey has accumulated an overall record of 54-69 and an Ivy mark of 26-44 in five seasons. The team's 9-5 mark in conference play this season was the best by any Dartmouth team in 22 years. Twice before, the Big Green had gone 8-6 (2007 and 2011) prior to this season's achievement.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cara Mattaliano, Princeton (Jr., OH - Glen Ellyn, Ill.)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cassi Wes, Columbia (Jr., L - Atherton, Calif.)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Christina Cornelius, Harvard (Fr., MB - Los Angeles)

CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR
Erin Lindsey, Dartmouth
Sabrina King, Princeton

FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
*Emily Astarita, Dartmouth (Jr., OPP - Setauket, N.Y.)
Kaira Lujan, Dartmouth (Sr., MB - Santa Fe, N.M)
*Corinne Bain, Harvard (Jr., S/H - Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
Christina Cornelius, Harvard (Fr., MB - Los Angeles)
*Kathleen Wallace, Harvard (Sr., OH - San Francisco)
*Cara Mattaliano, Princeton (Jr., OH - Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
*Kendall Peterkin, Princeton (Sr., RS - San Diego)
Kelly Johnson, Yale (Sr., S/H - Palos Verdes, Calif)

SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY
Sabrina Stillwell, Brown (Fr., RS - Laguna Beach, Calif.)
Katarina Jovicic, Columbia (Sr. MH - Toronto)
Cassi Wes, Columbia (Jr., L - Atherton, Calif.)
Caroline Holte, Harvard (Sr., MB - Laguna Beach, Calif.)
Alexis Genske, Penn (Sr., OH - Altadena, Calif)
Brittany Ptak, Princeton (Jr., MB - Coto de Caza, Calif.)
Claire Nussbaum, Princeton (Fr. S - San Diego)
Kelley Wirth, Yale (Fr., OH - Moraga, Calif.)

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
Payton Smith, Brown (Jr., MB - Atherton, Calif.)
Paige Caridi, Dartmouth (Sr., OH - Austin, Texas)
Sindhu Vegesena, Harvard (Sr., L - Spring, Texas)
Maya Midzik, Yale (Sr., MB - Brookline, Mass.)

*-Unanimous Decision

Schedules