Eve Stephens becomes the 2022-23 Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year. Photo courtesy of GoSeawolves.com.
Eve Stephens has a momentous resume. In her four years at UAA, she’s been a seven-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year – winning this year's award unanimously – and a two-time American Volleyball Association Coaches Player of the Week.
This year marked Stephen's senior volleyball season, and she became the first player in UAA program history to receive the Ron Lenz Division II Conference Commissioners Associate National Player of the Year.
This season, she was also named the National Player of the Week, NCAA Division II West Region Player of the Year and she was a First Team All-American.
Stephens led the Seawolves to a 27-3 record and helped the team secure a GNAC title. She ranked second nationally with 5.78 points per set and third with 4.75 kills per set. Stephens also led the GNAC in kills and points per set.
The senior also set nine school records this season. She concluded her season as the GNAC and UAA all-time leader in points (2,292.5) and kills (1,926).
Stephens is placed in UAA's top-five career lists for points for set (ranking first at 4.69), kills per set (ranking second at 3.94), attack percentage (ranking fifth at 0.296), aces (ranking third at 152), block assists (ranking third at 361), sets played (ranking fourth at 489), matches played (ranking fourth at 132) and victories (ranking fifth at 99).
Stephens also left a legacy off the court, becoming a College Sports Communicators First Team Academic All-American and graduating with a 3.89 cumulative GPA.
While the UAA volleyball program will miss Stephens greatly, the honor of having such an influential player, teammate and role model as a Seawolf will never fade.
As Stephens noted in her speech after receiving the UAA MacKay Athlete of the Year award, "once a Seawolf, always a Seawolf."
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