Female Athlete of the Year Runner-Up: Corie Bain

The day before the Ivy League women’s volleyball tiebreaker between Harvard and Princeton, the league office released its decision that Tiger junior Cara Mattaliano had won Ivy League Player of the Year honors.

The announcement did not go unnoticed by Harvard junior setter Corie Bain, who for the past three seasons has been a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection but has yet to claim Player of the Year status.

While Bain fell short of that singular honor, it was the Manhattan Beach, Calif., native who had the last laugh the next day.

Buoyed by Bain’s triple-double of 15 kills, 18 assists, and 14 digs, the Crimson cruised to victory past Mattaliano and Princeton in a four-set victory to nab the program’s first NCAA bid. While Mattaliano recorded 22 kills on the night, she did so over 54 attacks, 10 of which resulted in errors.

“Cara absolutely deserved it; she had a great season,” Bain said. “[But] it absolutely played into the playoff…. When I have something to be a little bit more fiery about, I do play better. I wanted to use that.”

Notching a triple-double is nothing new for the Harvard career record-holder in that category. Bain finished with eight on the year, including three in her last four games of the season. But Bain does not import statistics as much as her own evaluation of her play.

“I don’t judge my play off my statistics,” Bain said. “I judge off the feeling that I have throughout the game and how I perform in every given scenario.”

Bain topped out at ninth across the Ivy League’s major statistical categories (specifically, assists), but looking only at the trees would lead one to lose sight of the forest. Bain also ranked 14th in kills per set with 2.37 and 11th in digs per set with 3.41 during conference play.

Since kills and assists are, by definition, mutually exclusive, Bain’s 2.37 kills per set are made even more noteworthy given her 5.63 assists per game. For comparison’s sake, Princeton setter Claire Nussbaum recorded 0.09 kills per set for the only other Ivy League team that totalled 10 wins.

Such a stat line may have surprised the Corie Bain from four years ago, who, as a setter, had not starting hitting yet.

“All of the stats and accolades I get for hitting are still new to me,” Bain said. “And I think that, if anything, I’m shocked that I’m ranked high for hitting percentage...because that’s not even my position. I wasn’t trained as a hitter.”

Bain’s ability to contribute to every facet of the game makes the psychology concentrator difficult to contain.

“She is able to not only play and excel at almost every position, but it helps her to understand the other positions,” sophomore outside hitter Paige Kebe said. “Especially as a setter, I think it’s really important that she also understands the dynamics of hitting.”

While Bain was consistent throughout the season, it was her ability to rise up in critical situations that made her the Crimson squad’s most valuable player.

The team’s first game against Princeton was a must-win—or as much of a must-win as the second conference match of the year can be. After dropping the league opener to Dartmouth, Harvard roared back against the Tigers thanks to Bain’s 10 kills and 13 assists, along with senior Kathleen Wallace’s 16 kills.

“Vocally, she’s a great contributor to the team, and she’s a really good supportive teammate,” Kebe said. “She kind of knows that different people need to hear different things during stressful times. She’s definitely very tuned into the pulse of the team.”

Weeks later, in a crucial fifth set against Brown, Bain recorded three assists and four kills, including the game-winner, en route to another triple-double performance. The next weekend, the junior had one kill and six assists in the decisive fifth set of a win at Cornell.

And it was Bain’s season, not Mattaliano’s, that caught the attention of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, who named her to the All-East Region first team. Bain was the only Ivy League player to receive that distinction, while Crimson freshman Christina Cornelius took home an honorable mention.

Three years into her stint with Harvard, Bain is used to the Ancient Eight accolades. The setter finished her rookie season as the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection. She also received five Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors and has received nine conference Player of the Week nods over her career. But teammates enjoy playing with her for more than just her talent.

“She’s a great teammate,” Kebe said. “She’s so fun to play with. She celebrates big points really well and has a great attitude no matter what…. [But] she [also] knows when it’s time to focus.”

Ivy League Player of the Year honors may have eluded the star thus far in her time with the Crimson, but she still remains one of the most feared competitors in the Ancient Eight.

And, most frighteningly for Harvard opponents, she still has one year left.

–Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurt.bullard@thecrimson.com.