Former Rochelle volleyball standout Clare Green had family members in attendance as she inched closer to a historic achievement during her senior season at Iowa’s Cornell College.

It was Oct. 26, 2024 when Green and the Rams hosted Carthage College for the second match of their home quadrangular meet with Coe College and North Park University. Having already beaten North Park in four sets, Green and her Cornell teammates took the floor for their match against Carthage seeking their second victory of the meet, but many eyes in the stands were on Green, who was on the brink of becoming the program’s all-time career assist champion.

During the second set, Green floated a pass for teammate Ilah Perez-Johnson, who slammed down the kill shot and helped the Rochelle Township High School alum secure her place as the No. 1 career assist leader at Cornell. It was the 3,927th assist for Green, who passed Hannah Boehmer (2007-10) to become the all-time leader for the Rams. With her record secured, Green returned her focus to the action on the floor, where Cornell took down Carthage in four sets.

“My coach told me that I was on the way to breaking the record and I was sort of shocked,” Green said. “I didn’t want to share it with the team since I wanted to surprise them, so being able to surprise them and to see how happy they were was really cool. My family was there watching and when they announced the record, all of my teammates turned to me at the same time and they had the biggest smiles… After the match, they told me how proud they were.”

The all-time record highlighted another successful collegiate season for Green, who now stands alone with 4,157 assists as a four-year setter for the Rams. Green dished out 998 assists during her senior season, landing only two short of eclipsing the 1,000-assist mark for the fourth year in a row. The former Lady Hub, who was named a First-Team All-MWC honoree for the second time in her career, led Cornell to a 19-12 record and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth.

“I definitely put a lot of work in over the offseason and I know my job on the team,” Green said. “I’m not trying to do anything flashy. I’m trying to help my hitters out and make the passes look good. I always tried to do my job the best I could… As a senior, I showed a lot more leadership and there was a lot more off-the-court leadership. I made sure my teammates knew what was going on and I made sure they weren’t stressed out with classes and other things going on.”

With Green captaining the offense, Cornell won the Midwest Conference regular season and tournament titles for the fourth straight year. Green played a career-high 120 sets during her senior season, posting 256 digs along with 56 kills, 42 total blocks and 34 service aces. In addition to receiving All-MWC honors for the fourth time in her career, Green was named an All-Region Honorable Mention as well as the Midwest Conference Player of the Year.

“We had a bit of a rough patch at the start of the season, but to be able to get through that and come out and do well in the conference tournament was a lot of fun,” Green said. “We had a young team and it was really cool to step into a leadership role and see my teammates grow over the course of the season."

"I was surprised that I won the conference player of the year. We do performer of the week on offense and defense and throughout the season we typically know who’s doing well on each team. I didn’t get a lot of those as a setter, so to win the overall conference player of the year award was really surprising, but it was also a really cool moment.”

Cornell advanced to the NCAA Division III tournament in each of Green’s four years with the program. As the Rams bowed out with a loss against No. 10 Millikin in the first round, Green’s collegiate career concluded with 4,157 assists, 1,036 digs, 467.5 points, 260 kills, 163 total blocks and 121 service aces over 451 sets and 124 matches. Green’s mastery of the setter position was evidenced in her improved ball handling, as the RTHS alum committed just one ball handling error as a senior after having 30 as a freshman and 19 as a sophomore.

“I enjoyed being with the girls the most,” Green said. “The girls became my best friends and playing with them made me love the sport even more… I remember during my freshman year, I went in with the mindset that I wouldn’t play and that I had to work my way up. I was surprised that I played and once I started playing, I started setting goals for myself. When I hit 1,000 assists as a freshman, I wanted 1,000 assists each season and I wanted to keep getting better.”

Green’s postseason accolades included winning the Paul Maaske Scholar-Athlete Award as well as Cornell’s most prestigious athletic honor, the Russell W. Landis Award, which is presented to one Cornell athlete each year who “best demonstrated academic excellence, campus leadership and athletic development over a four-year career.” Green, who double majored in Spanish and finance, will start her full-time job at Freund in Marion, Iowa next week.

“It was an accumulation of all four years and people noticed the hard work I put in,” Green said. “It was a really sweet moment… I’ve grown a lot over the last four years. A mindset we talked a lot about as a team was being grateful and being where your feet are. Having that type of mindset when I’m stressed out or anxious is something that has helped me a lot.”