Volleyball
Hannah Klemm
The Hofstra volleyball team had a season that focused primarily on the emergence and development of some of the new young talent on the roster. Players like Leticia Valente, Nanishka Perez and Luisa Domingues have laid the groundwork for what is sure to be a successful future for the Pride volleyball program.
All of these players were incredibly valuable in another solid season for the Pride. But it’s a veteran of the team that ultimately earned the distinction of most valuable player, and that veteran is junior setter Hannah Klemm.
After two solid seasons, Klemm had an outstanding junior season, tallying a career-best 1,493 assists, good for fifth in the entire nation. Her 11.73 assists per set average, another career-high, also landed Klemm in the top 10 in the NCAA. She was named CAA Setter of the Year for a second consecutive season and made All-CAA first team.
Even with all the accolades, Klemm’s impact on the court goes way beyond statistics and awards. As the setter, Klemm gets the entire offense in motion. Without a reliable setter, attackers like Valente and Perez wouldn’t be able to rack up kills and the whole offense would suffer as a result.
Klemm’s veteran presence on a young team, coupled with her impressive accomplishments on and off the court, have earned her the title of Hofstra volleyball’s most valuable player.
Men's Soccer
Joseph Holland
The Hofstra men’s soccer team lost only one of 10 home games and finished the season 14-8-0 overall record 6-2-0 conference.
With all the team’s success, who was the most valuable player? Number 10, junior Joseph Holland, comes to mind.
Holland earned the Pride eight goals and nine assists, leading the team to their first CAA Championship since 2006.
He won the CAA MVP award when the Pride won the title. After clinching the CAA Championship, the midfielder talked about his success in an interview back in November.
“I come out here and practice free kicks every day so one should go in eventually,” Holland said.
Standing at 5-foot-10 inches and hailing from London, England, Holland has impressed his teammates, his coaches, the press and Pride fans. Holland’s overall performance boils down to his season highs and his overall attitude towards the effort of his teammates.
What is the secret to Holland’s success? “So much hard work out here every single day. Two hours practice, two hours individual practice for myself. That’s the trademark of our team … we have the ability to produce a bit of magic,” he said.
Women's Soccer
Leah Galton
It was highly successful season for the Hofstra women’s soccer team, and while advancing to the NCAA tournament was an all-around team effort, one player stood out among the rest. The MVP of the Hofstra Pride is none other than senior attacker Leah Galton.
For years, Galton led the Pride with teammate and mentor Sam Scolarici. Once Scolarici graduated, Galton’s teammates and head coach Simon Riddiough chose her to be the leader of the team and they fully supported her throughout the season.
Despite losing in the semifinals of the CAA tournament in double overtime to James Madison University, postseason continued as the Pride was selected to appear in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012. Galton led the team past Georgetown in penalty kicks in the first round and then lost to Rutgers the next round.
Galton was the offensive firepower for Hofstra and her stats support that. She led the team in goals (12), game-winning goals (four), points (30), shots (89) and shots-on-goal, as well as finishing second on the team in assists (six).
Congratulations, Leah Galton! You are the MVP of the Hofstra Pride women’s soccer team for the 2015 season.
Men's Basketball
Rokas Gustys
Ranked second in the nation in rebounds per game, with back-to-back 20 point, 20 rebound games and racking up a double-double in nearly every game in the latter half of the season, starting forward Rokas Gustys has contributed greatly to the Pride’s best season in recent memory.
The sophomore big man led the way to the Pride’s 24-win season (14-4 CAA), while also clinching the regular season. More than that, he has more than doubled his stat lines from his freshman year. His average points per game jumped from 5.2 to a staggering 13.5. His average number of rebounds per game jumped from 5.7 to 13.
Gustys ended the year with a great deal of recognition, as he was named to the CAA All-Academic team, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District First Team and to the second All-Metropolitan team.
Hofstra head coach Joe Mihalich has expressed nothing but pride for his rising star throughout the season as well. “He’s just playing great,” he said. “What’s great to see is he’s doing what he can do, he understands his role, he understands all the things that he can do, he’s just keeping it simple.”.
For Gustys and all of Hofstra basketball, next season opens the door for another shot to win the CAA and punch a ticket to the big dance.
Women's Basketball
Ashunae Durant
With all five starters averaging over eight points per game last season, it’s clear that the 2015-2016 Hofstra Pride women’s basketball team utilized a balanced attack. However, every team has a leader, and if an MVP trophy were to be handed out, it would have to be awarded to sophomore forward Ashunae Durant.
Durant was second on the team in scoring, with 11.4 points per game on 46 percent shooting. She led the team with 8.9 rebounds and dished out 2.1 assists per game in 32.8 minutes per contest, the second best on the team.
“I can run every offense through her, but she’s not going to shoot it 35 times,” Pride head coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said. “She likes to get her teammates involved.”
The Newark, New Jersey native was a force on the defensive side too, as she averaged just under one steal and block per game. That’s a particularly impressive feat considering that the 5 foot-10-inch power forward is undersized for a defender.
Durant’s hard work was rewarded in the postseason, when she was named to the All-Met second team in early April. In season, Durant staked her claim for MVP with a dominant performance in one of the team’s final regular season conference games against their CAA rival, Drexel. She posted a monster double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds, lifting her team past the Dragons, 61-54.
That was just one of 10 double-doubles that Durant posted this season, leading Hofstra to a team-record 25 wins and securing her spot as the Pride’s MVP.