Darien’s Moore named Gatorade Player of Year
Darien volleyball senior Aubrey Moore, a setter who helped the Blue Wave to 50 consecutive wins and back-to-back FCIAC and CIAC Class LL championships, has been named the 2023-24 Gatorade Connecticut Volleyball Player of the Year, the company announced Monday.
Moore is the secondconsecutive Darien girls volleyball player to receive the award, following middle blocker Leilani Gillespie last season.
Moore, who will play at Boston College, was the GameTimeCT All-State MVP and was the CHSCA Connecticut Player of the Year. She and her twin sister, Ellie, an outside hitter who will play at Kansas, were both named to the All-FCIAC and All-State first teams.
Aubrey Moore broke Darien’s school record for career assists with 2,108 and also had 510 digs, 258 aces, 176 kills and 41 blocks. As a senior, she led the team with 666 assists and 83 aces, while adding 155 digs, 63 kills and 18 blocks.
Moore was also named the MVP of the FCIAC and Class LL championship in each of the past two seasons. The Blue Wave finished 25-0 both years.
The Gatorade award recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, according to the press release.
Moore has volunteered locally as part of multiple community service initiatives with Youth Give Back in association with the Community Fund of Darien. She has also donated her time to fundraising campaigns to benefit Alzheimer’s and breast cancer research, and had maintained a 3.54 GPA in the classroom.
“The thing I have noticed in watching and competing against Aubrey is how she’s able to make others around her better,” said Rich Heitz, coach at Southington, which faced Darien in this season’s Class LL final and last season’s semifinals. “Aubrey does such a great job of putting her team in system and allowing them to play at their absolute best. This is stuff that doesn’t show on a team’s stat sheet, but is integral to team success.”