Albany's Ashley DeNeal (Muncie, Ind./Delta) becomes the fourth Great Dane to earn Player of the Week accolades this season, while Binghamton's Brianna Strong (Elkhart, Ind./ Concord) earns her second Rookie of the Week award of the season. Blair Buchanan (Muncie, Ind./Delta) of Albany garners her sixth Setter of the Week honor of the 2005 campaign. The awards were announced Monday (October 31).
DeNeal averaged 7.67 digs per game in two matches for the Great Danes last week. She also added 1.83 assists per game and 0.33 aces per game. The junior libero also received 41 serves without a reception error. DeNeal tallied 29 digs against the Retrievers for her eighth 20-plus dig performance this season. She added 17 digs and set a career-high with seven assists against Stony Brook. For the season, DeNeal is averaging 5.40 digs per game, which leads the America East. Her 448 digs this season already ranks fifth on the program’s single-season chart. She also has 1,326 career digs which ranks fourth on the all-time list.
Strong recorded team-highs of 4.00 kills and 4.34 points per game this past week, she also tied a team-high 3.17 digs per game this past week in six games. Over the two matches, she hit .302 (24-8-53). In the match on Friday against New Hampshire, Strong came off the bench in the second game to finish with 10 kills and nine digs. Sunday against Hartford she produced a match- and career-high 14 kills as well as a match-high 10 digs to help Binghamton clinch a berth in the America East Championship for the second consecutive year.
Buchanan averaged 2.50 kpg, 13.00 apg, 2.33 dpg, 0.33 bpg and 2.75 ppg. She also finished with a team-high .560 hitting percentage on the week. The junior setter became the program’s career assists leader on Friday, Oct. 28. She now has 3,322 for her career, surpassing the previous mark of 3,260 set by Lisa Greiner from 1995-98. Buchanan also tied her career-high with eight kills on 12 attempts against UMBC. She added seven digs and two blocks in the match. Against Stony Brook, Buchanan registered seven kills on 13 attempts to go along with seven digs. For the season, Buchanan is averaging 12.14 assists, 1.41 kills, 2.34 digs and 0.36 blocks per game.