Volleyball Announces Team Awards for 2021 Season

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth volleyball team and head coach Gilad Doron held its annual team banquet in person for the first time in three years due to the pandemic over the weekend, revealing the team awards during the event with sophomore Ellie Blain being named not only the Big Green's most valuable player but the Rookie of the Year as well.

A 6-2 outside hitter and middle blocker from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Blain started all 23 matches and led Dartmouth in overall kills (317) and on a per-set basis (3.48). The All-Ivy Second Team selection also recorded 185 digs, 30 blocks and 20 service aces as well as six double-doubles. She was chosen as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week once and The Richards Group/DartmouthSports.com Female Athlete of the Week twice during the fall, plus earned a spot on the Dartmouth Invitational All-Tournament Team.

Junior Taite Ryan and freshman Piper Stevens shared the Most Improved Player award. Ryan, a 6-0 outside hitter from Winnetka, Illinois, had her best season for the Big Green, posting a .181 attack percentage. After earning her starting spot early in the season, she became a big contributor with 3.21 digs per set and 2.1 points per set, second-best on the squad, helping the Big Green post their most wins (15) in 11 years and its highest finish in the conference standings (fourth) since 2015. Ryan also earned The Richards Group Female Athlete of the Week honor once last fall.

Stevens, a 5-11 outside/opposite hitter from Manhattan Beach, California, needed just two weeks of play as a rookie to earn her starting position. Thanks to her terrific feel for the game, she improved the team's blocking in particular — contributing 20 blocks on the season — once she was incorporated into the lineup.

The Servant Leader, given to the player who always puts her team before herself and embodies the core values of Dartmouth volleyball, was bestowed upon senior Emma Moffet. The 6-1 middle blocker from Los Angeles was the Big Green leader in total blocks (69) and blocks per set (0.88) and was playing at her best when the season came to a close and started the second half of Ivy League play with a career-best 15 kills and 18 points at Harvard. An Academic All-Ivy selection for the second time, Moffett provided the highlight of the season against Columbia as a video clip of her kill broke the team's Instagram record with over 334,000 views worldwide.

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