Fall 2021 Senior Spotlight – Women’s Volleyball
December 23, 2021

Fall 2021 Senior Spotlight – Women’s Volleyball

WESTON, Mass. – Before its match against Maine-Fort Kent Oct. 28, the Regis College women's volleyball team celebrated its senior class in a special presentation.

Emily Fagundo (Dover, N.H.) accumulated 1,010 career assists, the sixth player in program history to collect at least 1,000 career assists. In 2021, she finished with 557 assists, eighth on the Pride's single season assists list. Earlier this season, she earned 48 assists during the Pride's come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Fisher. A two-time Academic All-GNAC and CoSIDA Academic All-District® honoree, Fagundo became the first student-athlete in Regis College athletics history to receive Academic All-America® recognition, as she was recently voted Third Team Academic All-America®. She is also a member of the Regis track and field team and was part of the 2019 GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships title squad. She is majoring in nuclear medicine.

Kate Flemming (Woburn, Mass.) appeared in 127 sets within 61 matches during her volleyball career at Regis. During the 2019 season, she finished with 60 kills, 40 digs, and nine total blocks. She collected a career-high six kills in three straight matches: at Eastern Connecticut State (9/24/19), against University of Saint Joseph (9/28/19), and against Albertus Magnus (9/28/19). Earlier this season, she collected nine digs against Colby-Sawyer Sept. 11 and earned five service aces during the Pride's four-set victory over Norwich Sept. 28. On Senior Night against Maine-Fort Kent, she once again tied her career high with six kills. Flemming joined the women's lacrosse team in 2020. A two-time Academic All-GNAC honoree, Flemming is a nursing major.

Luinet Melendez (Ponce, Puerto Rico) appeared in 60 sets within 33 matches for the Pride. During the 2019 season, she collected a season-high 10 digs and two assists against Norwich, plus she earned three service aces to go along with six digs against Lasell. Earlier this season, Melendez earned seven digs in the first match of the day against Fitchburg State, and then she went 3-for-3 on attack attempts along with six digs in the second match. Against Maine-Fort Kent, Melendez finished with a career-high 13 digs, plus she earned two service aces. She also had two service aces against Bay Path Oct. 30 to go along with 11 digs, one kill, and one assist. A two-time Academic All-GNAC selection, she is majoring in biology.

Jordan Sterenberg (Oceanside, N.Y.) appeared in 76 sets within 37 matches for the Pride during her career. In her first career match in 2018 against Eastern Connecticut State, she finished with four kills, a service ace, a block assist, and eight digs. She also collected five service aces against Curry in her first season. In a four-set victory at Norwich later that year, she earned six kills and four digs. She worked her way back from a 2019 injury to appear in 14 matches this season, including a four-kill, three-dig performance against Anna Maria. Against Maine-Fort Kent, Sterenberg earned a career-high nine digs in Regis' four-set victory. A two-time Academic All-GNAC honoree, she is majoring in therapeutic recreation.

Mica van der Meulen (Colorado Springs, Colo.), one of this year's captains, played in 292 sets within 84 matches during her Regis career. She was one of the team's setters in 2018, finishing with 324 assists and 214 digs. She moved into the libero role in 2019 and earned 372 digs during that season. This year, she finished with 395 digs, seventh on the Regis single-season list. That brought her career total to 981 digs, fourth all-time. She also has 128 service aces, including a career-high 54 aces so far this season. A two-time Academic All-GNAC honoree, she is graduating after the fall semester with a bachelor's degree in global business administration and cybersecurity, plus she minored in data analytics.

Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.), also a captain in the 2021 season, appeared in 191 sets within 60 matches since arriving at Regis in the fall of 2019. She was named GNAC Player of the Week September 27 after an impressive series of performances in which she made just one attack error in 37 attempts. She has reached double figures in kills eight times this season with a high of 14 kills against Colby-Sawyer. For the season, she led the team with 246 kills, plus she was third on the squad with a .218 hitting percentage and 59 total blocks. Whalen is currently playing for the Pride women's basketball team, averaging 5.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. One of the SAAC Social Media Representatives, she is majoring in education and psychology.

The Regis College women's volleyball team finished the 2021 season with a 23-8 overall record, the second highest single-season win total in program history. The Pride finished fourth in the GNAC regular season standings with a 10-3 league record and advanced to the semifinals of the GNAC Tournament.