Full Centennial Conference Release
HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College volleyball team was well represented in the Centennial Conference postseason honors, as first year libero Juliet Young was named the Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year, becoming Haverford's first-ever recipient of that award. In addition, Drew Hargrave was named the Centennial Conference's Coach of the Year while Young joined senior Dina Kosyagin in earning first-team All-CC honors. Senior Sara Hunsberger was named to second-team honors while first year Taylor Jones picked up honorable mention recognition. Senior Elena Filograna also earned recognition on the CC All-Sportsmanship team in her final campaign. The Fords placed four members on the All-Conference team for the first time in program history and had two first team honorees for the first time since the 2016 season.
Hargrave earned the annual CC Coach of the Year Award, becoming the first leader of the Haverford program to earn that award since Amy Bergin in 2008. Hargrave guided the Fords to a 23-5 record overall, and a 9-1 conference mark. The squad posted its best record since the 2009 campaign, a season in which the Fords went 31-4 en route to the regional semifinals. Haverford excelled against regionally ranked competition, going 7-4 in those matches.
Young, a product of Guilford, Conn., had a standout campaign as she was Haverford's primary libero in her rookie year at Haverford. She tallied a Centennial-best 565 digs and 5.59 digs per set through Sunday's action. Her single-season digs mark is fifth in program history and her digs per set mark ranks eighth in Haverford's history. She becomes the first first-team All-Centennial rookie since 2018 and the first at Haverford since Meg O'Day in 2012.
Kosyagin, from Las Vegas, proved to be a force on the outside all season long, with a Centennial-best 386 kills (3.82 per set). She turned it up a notch against conference competition, logging 4.0 kills per set against the Centennial, the best mark in the conference this season. In just three competitive campaigns at Haverford, Kosyagin has tallied 913 kills. During the last week of the regular season, Kosyagin was named CC Player of the Week after tallying 21 kills in a sweep of Swarthmore, matching the program's record for kills in a three-set match.
Hunsberger was a stabilizing presence all season for the Fords at setter as she was called upon to help run the offense and was more than up for that task. She notched 9.52 assists per set, good for second in the Centennial behind just CC Player of the Year Natalie Aston of Johns Hopkins. Hunsberger also proved her defensive prowess with 220 digs, good for 13th in the conference. The Washington, D.C. native tallied 10 double-double efforts this season, including a performance that included a season-best 18 digs in the CC semifinal win over Swarthmore.
Jones was another standout rookie for the Fords, earning honorable mention honors after emerging as a key blocker. The Yorba Linda, Calif product burst onto the scene with 1.01 blocks per set during her first year on campus. Her 101 total blocks is good for tops in the CC while her 208 kills ranks 11th in the conference, and tops among first-year athletes. Jones had 25 more total blocks than anyone else on the Fords, and was responsible for more than half of Haverford's solo blocks with 22 on the season.
Haverford will now continue its historic 2021 season into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014, with a trip to Cambridge, Mass. Regional at MIT on deck. Haverford will face off with Little East Conference champion UMass-Boston on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Rockwell Cage. More information on the regional is slated to be unveiled this week.