Skip To Main Content

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Official Athletics Website of the MIT Engineers

2022 MIT Women's Volleyball Roster

@ManhattanBeachSurf
DSPics.com
DSPics.com
DSPics.com
David Vapnek '23

12 Alyssa Unell

  • Position MH
  • Height 6-1
  • Class Senior
  • High School Horizon
  • Hometown Scottsdale, Ariz.
  • Major Computation and Cognition

Biography

Career Highs
Kills 13 vs. Clark (Oct. 15, 2019)
Aces 4 vs. Framingham State (Sept. 21, 2019)
vs. Mount Holyoke (Oct. 5, 2019)
vs. Clark (Oct. 15, 2019)
vs. Wheaton (Oct. 19, 2021)
vs. Clark (Oct. 11, 2022)
Digs 4 vs. Tufts (Nov. 12, 2022 - NCAA Tournament Regional Final)
Blocks 9 vs. Endicott (Sept. 11, 2021)


Accolades:
- AVCA All-America Honorable Mention (2021)
- AVCA Region 2 All-Region Team (2021)
- AVCA Region 2 All-Region Team Honorable Mention (2022)
- NEWMAC Academic All-Conference Team (2020, 2021, 2022)
- Set the MIT record for career hitting percentage (.387)


2022:
- Played in 93 sets, recording 160 kills, a .423 hitting percentage, 64 blocks, and 31 aces
- Ranked fifth in the nation and second in the NEWMAC in hitting percentage
- Finished seventh in the NEWMAC in block solo (12) and ninth in block assists (52) and total blocks


2021:
- Played in 87 sets, recording 144 kills, a .346 hitting percentage, 83 blocks, and 26 aces
- Ranked second in the NEWMAC in blocks per set (0.99), fourth in hitting percentage and total blocks, fifth in block solo (20), and seventh in block assist (63)


2020:
- Did not play as the season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic


2019:
- Played in 82 sets, recording 175 kills, 64 blocks, and 18 aces
- Ranked third in the NEWMAC in hitting percentage (.393), fifth in blocks per set (.78), seventh in block assist (59), and ninth in total blocks


Favorite Sports Memory:
- My favorite sports memory is when we went to Colorado as a team. We got to go hiking and look at the nature and it was a great bonding experience for us.


Favorite Moment as an MIT Student Athlete:
- My favorite moment as an MIT student athlete is winning NEWMACs in 2021 and getting to go to the Elite 8 in St. Louis, Mo. It was such a fun experience and I am very grateful that I got to participate in such an exciting competition with all of my teammates.


Off the Court at MIT
- Majoring in computation and cognition with a concentration in Spanish
- Internships: Translational Genomics Research Institute (bioinformatics intern); Intel (machine learning intern); EPFL (software engineering intern)
- Research: UROP with Dr. Pawan Sinha regarding deep learning model architecture and its connection to the human brain
- Undergraduate Neuroscience Research Award
- Glushko Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Research in Cognitive Science
- Excellence Research Scholarship at EPFL
- ThinkSwiss Research Fellow
- Mentor coordinator for MIT CodeIt, a non-profit club that organizes coding classes for middle school girls and non-binary students
- Kappa Alpha Theta
- MIT Global Health Alliance


Why I Chose MIT
- I chose MIT because I wanted to go to a university that would best prepare me for success in my future, and MIT’s curriculum and rigor is unparalleled anywhere else. I also wanted to continue my volleyball career in a competitive environment that pushed me to be my best, and I found that at MIT. All the people I met from seniors to prospective students were so engaged and interested in the world around them, and I really felt like this was a place filled with such passion and opportunity to grow as both a player and a person.


High School
- Was a member of the volleyball and track and field teams at Horizon High School
- 2017 Sports360AZ All-Academic Volleyball Team (5A-6A)
- Earned two varsity letters for volleyball
- National Honor Society president, Spanish Honor Society, Society of Women Scholars
- National Merit finalist, AP Scholar with Distinction
- Superintendent's Honor Roll
- Science Olympiad captain
- Key Club vice president
- Student Body treasurer
- Mentor in the Horizon mentorship program
- Intern at the Translational Genomics Research Institute
- Intern at the University of Arizona Little Sensor Lab


Club
- Arizona Sky Volleyball Club
- First place at the Beast of the Southeast qualifier (2019 USA division)
- Second place at the SoCal qualifier (2017 USA division)

Statistics

Season Statistics

Season Statistics

No statistics available for this season.

Career Statistics

There are no statistics available for this player.

Historical Player Information

  • 12

    2019First Year

    MH
    6'1"
    12
  • 12

    2020Sophomore

    MH
    6'1"
    12
  • 12

    2021Junior

    MH
    6'1"
    12
  • 12

    2022Senior

    MH
    6'1"
    12