Margot Phelan '09 made her mark as the first All-American selection in Franklin & Marshall volleyball history following a spectacular 2006 season that saw her also collect Centennial Conference Player of the Year honors. An outside hitter to be reckoned with, the four-time All-CC selection stands as one of the most decorated volleyball players in school history.
To give some perspective on the elite company that Phelan keeps, she is one of just seven four-time All-CC players in the 30-year history of the Centennial Conference. During her first season on campus, she became one of just 15 conference rookies to earn first-team All-CC accolades. Phelan is still the only volleyball player at F&M to earn first-team all-conference honors during all four years. She also is one of six players in program history to earn all-region honors during multiple seasons, receiving honorable mention status during her rookie campaign before garnering first-team honors during her All-America campaign.
Phelan's offensive numbers were staggering, as she graduated second in school history in kills (1,505) and still holds that ranking to this day after averaging 3.64 kills per set throughout her Franklin & Marshall career. Having scored 1,656.5 career points, the highest total this century, Phelan also showcased tremendous versatility, as her 1,372 career digs rank third in school history since and eighth all-time.
Opponents were put on notice from the start of Phelan's career that she was going to be an offensive player they needed to shut down. Rarely did that happen as Phelan led the team in kills during each of her four seasons. Just eight times in the now 50-year history of the Franklin & Marshall volleyball program has an individual led the team in both digs and kills during the same season. Fittingly, Phelan and fellow Hall of Fame Class member Meridith Sandherr '95 each accomplished that feat twice to claim 50 percent of those occasions.
Even a decade past her playing career, Phelan's name can be found 30 times in the Franklin & Marshall record book for top single-game and match performances. While most of those instances occurred when she was racking up kills and points on her ascent up the leaderboard, Phelan's famous jump serve was on full display when she registered seven service aces during a 2007 victory over Neumann.
With Phelan leading the way, the Diplomats made three appearances in the Centennial Conference Tournament, including trips to the championship match during the 2005 and 2006 campaigns. F&M completed a perfect 10-0 regular season in conference play during the 2006 season and additionally advanced to the ECAC semifinals during that same season.
After her graduation from Franklin & Marshall, Phelan entered a career in education through Philadelphia Teaching Fellows, an alternate certification program that allowed her to earn teaching credentials and a master's of education from Chestnut Hill College while working in a high-needs school in North Philadelphia. Phelan taught high school math for 11 years at a variety of schools, including public and charter schools in urban Philadelphia, an international school in Berlin, and independent boarding and day schools in both Vermont and New York.
Since the summer of 2020, she has held an admissions position at Alzar School, a semester boarding school in rural Idaho. Phelan currently serves as the Assistant Director of Admissions at Alzar School, but continues to aid students in the classroom as mathematics tutor.
