COLONIA, NJ – Ahead of this weekend’s 2024 East Coast Conference Women’s Volleyball Championship, the ECC has announced its women’s volleyball All-Conference selections. Molloy graduate student outside hitter Kiarra Roth (Bohemia, NY) headlines the list of major award winners as the Player of the Year while Mercy sophomore Adriana Rivera Rodriguez (Humacao, Puerto Rico) earned Setter of the Year honors and Daemen graduate student Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, NY) took home her third career Libero of the Year accolade. Mercy newcomer Grace Dilena (New York, NY) was tabbed the league’s Rookie of the Year while Queens head coach Stefan Leger was voted the Coach of the Year.
All voting was completed by the league’s seven head coaches.
Now a three-time All-ECC First Team honoree, Preseason Player of the Year Roth lived up to expectations in her final campaign to be selected the league’s Player of the Year. The Molloy graduate student outside hitter led the conference – and entire NCAA East Region – in total attacks (1,191, ninth nationally), attacks per set (11.68, 10th nationally), total kills (430, 12th nationally), kills per set (4.22, 12th nationally), and points per set (4.66, 24th nationally); her 475 points were 136 more than the league’s runner-up while her 430 kills were 145 more than the league’s runner-up. Roth totaled 23 matches with double-digit kills, including 11 matches with 20 or more, and added eight kill/dig double-doubles.
Rivera Rodriguez topped the ECC and ranked 36th in NCAA Division II with 10.20 assists per set, more than half an assist per set more than the league’s runner-up. The five-time ECC Setter of the Week sat second in the ECC in total assists (908) after totaling 20 matches with 30 or more assists, which included six 40-plus assist matches and four 50-plus assist matches.
Brundage claims the Libero of the Year honor for the third time in her career after previously winning in 2021 and 2023. The two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week ranked second in the conference in total digs (407) and digs per set (4.28). Brundage totaled double-digit digs in 23 matches this season, including six matches with over 20 digs apiece.
A six-time ECC weekly honoree between Player of the Week (2x) and Rookie of the Week (4x), Dilena has been selected as the Rookie of the Year. The freshman outside hitter led all ECC rookies and ranked fourth among all players in points per set (3.74) and kills per set (3.17) and hit at a clip of 24.2 percent, good for seventh in the ECC. Dilena recorded double-digit kill performances 16 times, including a season-high 23 en route to a .450 hitting percentage in a critical win over Daemen on November 9.
Queens’ Leger earned the first ECC Coach of the Year honor of his career in a vote by his peers after leading the Knights to at least a share of the ECC Regular Season Championship for the first time in two decades. In his fifth year at the helm, Leger led Queens to a 19-10 record and 9-3 mark in conference play, the most wins both overall and in conference action since 2008. Leger has also guided the Knights to the No. 2 seed in this weekend’s ECC Women’s Volleyball Championship and the No. 6 spot in the latest NCAA East Region Rankings.
2024 ECC Women's Volleyball All-Conference
First Team
Gabriela Bieniek, Mercy
Jasmine Brundage, Daemen
Giselle Giraud, Daemen
Nahirka Malpica, Daemen
Julia Pomerleau, Mercy
Kiarra Roth, Molloy
Abby Ryan, Daemen
Second Team
Despina Boudouris, Queens
Grace Dilena, Mercy
Christina Franco, Queens
Madi Hathaway, Queens
Sarah Munn, Queens
Lindsay Osterhoudt, Queens
Adriana Rivera Rodriguez, Mercy
Honorable Mention
Alex Darby, D’Youville
Kendall Conrad, Queens
Player of the Year: Kiarra Roth, Molloy
Setter of the Year: Adriana Rivera Rodriguez, Mercy
Libero of the Year: Jasmine Brundage, Daemen
Rookie of the Year: Grace Dilena, Mercy
Coach of the Year: Stefan Leger, Queens