Lawrenceville, NJ – The historic season continued for the Rider University women's volleyball team on Thursday morning as both seniors
Veronica Koval (Allentown, PA/Parkland) and
Emma Aldaya (Prospect Park, PA/Merion Mercy Academy) earned All-Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) honors as announced by the league office. The duo became the first players in program history to receive the distinction of being named to the ECAC All-Star Team.
Koval landed on the First Team and Aldaya was a member of the Second Team.
"I am extremely proud of both Veronica and Emma for this prestigious award," Rider Head Coach Chris Feliciano said. "Knowing that the ECAC is recognizing both their body of work and that of our program is a tremendous compliment."
Rider was one of three schools to have more than one player on the team and the only school from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to do so. Only one other player from the MAAC was named an ECAC All-Star.
Earlier this month, Koval received Second Team All-MAAC distinction for the second year in a row after bringing home MAAC Setter of the Year honors as a junior. She will not soon forget the final week of the regular season as she became the program's all-time assist leader versus Manhattan on November 8 and on November 10, she became the first player in Rider volleyball history to record 3,000 career assists. This season, she has set new career-highs in assists (1,135), assists per set (9.46), digs per set (2.52) and total blocks (48). Koval had the second-most assists in the conference and she ranked second in assists per set. She is just the third player in program history to record more than 1,000 assists in a season and she also totaled 302 digs. She's was a factor on both sides of the ball in 2017, registering 15 double-doubles. Koval ended the year on a high note with double-doubles in each of her final four matches of her collegiate career, highlighted by a 42-assist, 17-dig performance in the MAAC Tournament. Koval was also twice named the MAAC Player of the Week during the autumn.
Aldaya had a memorable final fall in Lawrenceville, becoming the program's all-time leader in digs. At Quinnipiac on September 24, she set a new Rider record for digs and later in the season she became the first player in program history to record 2,000 career digs. In September she was also named the Rider Female Athlete of the Month. Aldaya was named to the Volley in the Valley / Rose Hill Classic All-Tournament Team and also to the 12th Annual Friar Classic All-Tournament Team. She is the only player in program history to record over 450 digs in all four years with the team. This season she totaled 504 digs, averaged 4.20 digs per set, two kills and 72 assists and 24 service aces. She leaves Rider with four of the top-seven single-season dig totals. Aldaya also dad 10 or more digs in a match 25 times and she recorded 20 or more digs in a match nine times.
Both Aldaya and Koval were named to the MAAC All-Academic as well for their work in the classroom.
All-ECAC First Team
Claire Archibald – Iona College
Viktoria Fink – Long Island University- Brooklyn
Khaila Donaldson – Howard University
Julia Cast – St. John's University
Alli Lowe – Colgate University
Veronica Koval – Rider University
Natalia Rivera -- Long Island University- Brooklyn
All-ECAC Second Team
Kennedi Smith – University of New Hampshire
Allie Loitz – Villanova University
Santita Ebangwese – Syracuse University
Nina Petranovic – Long Island University- Brooklyn
Allison Fitzgerald – Villanova University
Julymar Otero – Towson University
Emma Aldaya – Rider University
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