Who’s in the (awards) race after day 1?
May 16, 2026 by Zack Davis in Recap
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The end-of-year superlatives aren’t actually important, but we care anyway. So if we were to vote today, which players would be on the short list? This list serves as a quick sketch of the scene after four rounds of pool play. Many names have been on our radar for the whole year, but there are a few surprises.
Player of the Year
Ria Stevens (Rice)
Unreal behavior. I’ll start with the statline: 11G/21A/19D/45T. There’s still two days! A possible four more games for Stevens and she’s already got a triple double. She’s the obvious standout for Player of the Year on today’s performance alone, but from what local sources have been saying, this is standard stuff from Stevens.
Steven’s play is so kinetic, on offense she’s a natural cutter. She’s lithe, slicing through zones and blowing past defenders in person to person matchups. Though she reads more as a cutter, when the disc is in her hand she’s a shooter. Her go-to is her flick blade to get past defenders. On defense she’s truly unleashed. While run-through blocks are her bread and butter, baiting the under in person matchups and poaching the lane when she can, she’s no slouch in the air.
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