JHU’s Aston Repeats as Player of the Year to Lead All-CC Volleyball Team

LANCASTER, Pa. — Johns Hopkins’ Natalie Aston repeated as Player of the Year to lead the 2021 All-Centennial Volleyball Team, while Haverford’s Juliet Young and Drew Hargrave collected the other top awards. 

Aston, a senior setter for the top-ranked and CC-champion Blue Jays, becomes the fourth player in Centennial history to receive the conference’s top honor multiple times. It marks the seventh time a JHU player has secured the award, and fourth time in the last five seasons. Now a three-time All-CC first team pick, Aston is one of just 17 players in conference history to earn first team accolades at least three times. 

Young was named Rookie of the Year as the conference’s top newcomer, becoming the first Haverford player to win the award since it was instituted in 2012. The freshman defensive specialist was also a first-team All-CC selection, becoming the 16th freshman to receive that honor in conference history. 

Hargrave was selected by her peers as Coach of the Year after guiding the Fords to a 22-4 regular season and 9-1 Centennial mark. This is Hargrave’s first Coach of the Year honor in her sixth-year tenure at Haverford. 

Six different teams were represented on the All-Centennial first team, with six of the seven honorees being repeat all-stars. Joining Aston and Young on the first team were Dickinson’s Emma Lange, Franklin & Marshall’s Allison Franke, Gettysburg’s Zanze Kuba-McCoy, Haverford’s Dina Kosyagin, and McDaniel’s Anna Jezerski. Franke joined Aston as one of just 17 players in CC history to receive first team honors three times, Lange and Kuba-McCoy were second-teamers in 2019, and Kosyagin and Jezerski both received honorable mention in 2019. 

Four other Blue Jays collected all-conference honors in addition to Aston – Sydney Portale, Eleni Panagopoulos and Simone Bliss were named to the second team, while Lauren Anthony secured honorable mention laurels. Bliss was named to the All-CC team for the fourth time in her career, despite being injured throughout the entire month of October. The graduate student outside hitter was a first-teamer in 2018 and 2019 and second-teamer in 2017. Panagopoulos was a repeat second-team selection, while Portale and Anthony received All-CC recognition for the first time. 

Haverford’s Sara Hunsberger (second team) and Taylor Jones (honorable mention) accompanied Kosyagin and Young on the all-conference squad for the Fords. 

Swarthmore was represented by Sierra Tyson and Kaylee…