Pride Volleyball Represented by Four in GNAC Postseason Honors

WINTHROP, Mass. – Coming off a 23-8 season and an appearance in the semifinals of the conference tournament, the Regis College women's volleyball team is represented within the league postseason honors by four players as the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) announced its all-league awards Wednesday.

Sophomore Kate Montigny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) leads the way for the Pride as she received Second Team All-GNAC recognition. She averaged two kills per set, hit .276, and led the team with 64 total blocks, averaging close to one block per set.

On Oct. 30 at Elms, she collected a season-high 15 kills and hit .500 as the Pride defeated the Blazers to clinch a home match in the quarterfinals of the GNAC Tournament. In that quarterfinal contest against Norwich, Montigny finished with nine kills and 11 total blocks as she eventually was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Junior Rita Dow (Nashua, N.H.) earned Third Team All-GNAC honors as she finished second on the team in kills with 231 and in total blocks with 61. She also became just the second player in program history to complete a season with a hitting percentage above .300 at .304, third in the GNAC.

Dow earned 10 or more kills in a single match nine times, with a season high of 15 kills against Maine-Fort Kent Oct. 28. Against Lasell Oct. 23, she earned 10 kills and six total blocks, followed by an eight-block performance against Johnson & Wales.

Senior Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.) also received Third Team All-GNAC honors from the league coaches after leading the Pride with 246 kills, plus she was third on the squad in both hitting percentage at .218 and total blocks with 59. Whalen was named the GNAC Player of the Week Sept. 27 after a week in which she hit .568 and collected nine kills without an attack error against both Anna Maria and Emmanuel.

During the Eastern Nazarene Invitational Sept. 10-11, Whalen ended up with 37 kills in three matches, including a season-high 14 kills during a non-conference victory over Colby-Sawyer. She also picked up 12 kills each in conference wins over Norwich (Sept. 28), Rivier (Oct. 2), and Colby-Sawyer (Oct. 12), hitting a combined .352 (36-4-91) in those three contests.

Toni Ondris (Mineola, N.Y.) was selected to the GNAC Women's Volleyball All-Sportsmanship Team. The junior appeared in 23 sets within 13 matches, averaging 1.17 digs per set, including a season-high eight digs against Fitchburg State Sept. 18. She also earned two service aces in each of four different matches during the year.

"Toni is the type of athlete that makes her teammates better both on and off the court," head coach Josh Anderson said. "She represents what our program is striving to be by going after every ball when given the opportunity, as well as being supportive and energetic on the sideline for her teammates."

Regis' 23 wins in 2021 are the second-most in a single season in program history and included a school-record 11-match winning streak from Sept. 11 through Oct. 2.