The Patriot League announced the winners of its annual volleyball conference postseason awards on Nov. 17, with all five winners coming from the American University Eagles.
All of these awards come after American posted one of its best seasons in the past 10 years. The team won 22 matches and only lost four, ultimately ending the regular season on a 15-game winning streak. The team has not lost a game since a five-set home match against Colgate on Sept. 19.
Head coach Ahen Kim and his staff won the Barry Goldberg Coaching Staff of the Year award, his first honor during his tenure at American. Goldberg won the award seven times at American. The Patriot League named the award after the legendary coach following his death in 2023.
“That’s certainly not lost on me,” Kim said about winning the award. He served as an assistant under Goldberg at American for six seasons, winning the Patriot League title in five of them consecutively.
“It’s a privilege. It’s humbling, because he’s a big part of my coaching style, my philosophy. He goes a little bit with me everywhere I go,” he said.
Sophomore libero Bella Marrero won the conference’s Libero of the Year award. She posted 371 digs in 84 sets throughout the season. Her average of 4.42 digs per set ranked second in the Patriot League behind Lafayette’s Emily Gouldrup. This marks the third time a libero from American has won this award, all within the past 10 years, with the others being Hoakalei Dawson in 2015 and Kristen Largay in 2017.
“She puts in a lot of extra work, and she’s paved the way for all of these team awards,” Kim said. “She is a very seasoned leader, I have so much praise for her because it was so self-driven.”
Freshman outside hitter Sophie Dufour took home the conference’s Rookie of the Year award, marking the second consecutive year in which the team won that award.
This season, Dufour exploded onto the scene in the Patriot League, ending the regular season ranked second in the conference in kills behind Colgate outside hitter Milan Bayless. Dufour notched 345 kills in 90 sets, averaging 3.83 per set. Bayless’ average was only 0.12 kills per set more, but the Raiders played 15 more sets throughout the season than American did.
“It’s rare to have someone with so much maturity as a competitor, and just as a person,” Kim said. “She’s rarely someone who will make back-to-back mistakes, and she’ll never make the same mistake twice in a row.”
He also noted that he expected Dufour to win the award early in the season, given how much she contributed to the team from the season’s start.
In 2024, the honor went to now-sophomore outside hitter Zedo Yilmaz. This is the third time in six years that the team has had a freshman outside hitter win the honors, with all-time program legend Zeynep Uzen taking the award in 2019.
“Rookie of the Year is my favorite award,” Kim said. “It’s such a special, unique thing. I don’t think any freshman really comes in knowing if they’re going to start. So to come in and make such a meaningful contribution is all anyone hopes to do, and then to be recognized for it, I am so happy to see it for her [Dufour].”
Sophomore setter Deniz Dakak won two conference awards Monday, bringing in the Patriot League’s Setter of the Year award and the league Player of the Year award. Dakak totaled 947 assists in 90 sets for American, averaging 10.52 per set. This mark ranks 18th out of all of Division I. A setter receiving both awards has previously happened three times in the history of the Patriot League, with the awards going to the Eagles’ own Monika Smidova in 2014 and 2015 and to Colgate’s Julia Kurowski in 2022.
“She had a leg up on all the other setters in the gym because she got to work with our middles. That’s probably the relationship in the chemistry that’s always hardest, is the middle-setter connection,” Kim said. “All hitters have a unique relationship with their setters, but the middle-setter connection is particularly unique. I think DD [Dakak] saw the opportunity there and she took advantage of it.”
The team has three representatives on the All-Patriot League First Team, with Dakak and Dufour joined by junior middle blocker Prinzez Zeck. Zeck posted 178 kills and ranked third in the conference in hitting percentage, her final regular season statistic sitting at .396.
The All-League Second Team hosts three more Eagles: Marrero is joined by sophomore middle blocker Elise Sterling, whose .414 hitting percentage led the conference and sophomore outside hitter Salme Adeele Hollas, whose 285 kills ranked sixth in the Patriot League for the regular season.
“I think one of the things that is unique about us is when we’re all on, it’s hard to stop, but we don’t necessarily have to be. It’s not about one person, if that person’s game is a little bit off, other people can pick it up on the offensive side,” Kim said.
The team now looks towards its home match for the Patriot League semifinal, facing the Navy Midshipmen on Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles hope to catapult this regular season success into postseason glory, and return to the Patriot League Championship match for the first time since 2023 and to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
“You’ve got to be good on that day, regardless of who you play. We were able to win the series against all three of those teams, so we’ve got to do it a third time. Luckily, we get to do it here. We just have to execute,” Kim said.
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Avery Grossman, Ryan Sieve, Audrey Smith.
