Albany's Shelby Goldman (Whitby, Ontario/Anderson Collegiate) has been named America East Player of the Week for volleyball for the second-straight week, while UMBC's Sarah Fillmore (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) has garnered Rookie of the Week accolades. Stony Brook's Kaitlyn Deutsch (St. Louis, Mo./Southern Miss) also took home Setter of the Week honors for the fourth time this season. The awards were announced on Monday (November 13).
Goldman recorded 31 kills and 21 digs in two matches last week. In the Great Danes’ regular-season conference finale, a three-game sweep over Stony Brook, Goldman tallied 12 kills and nine digs to go along with four total blocks. Versus Long Island, Goldman posted a team-high 19 kills and 12 digs for her 14th double-double of the season.
Fillmore led the Retrievers with 17 kills and six digs in the 3-1 win over Maine last week. She also tallied one block assist and recorded a hitting percentage of .262, the highest on the team.
Deutsch wrapped up her stellar regular-season as the transfer setter tallied 74 assists over a two-match span. In the loss to Albany, Deutsch provided 35 assists and hit .333 with three kills and six digs in the loss. Deutsch again was consistent for Stony Brook in the win over Hartford, as the junior setter totaled 39 assists, three kills and two service aces to keep the Seawolves in the hunt for the America East Tournament.
TEAM BY TEAM NOTES
Albany Great Danes
UAlbany (17-10, 10-2 America East) closed out regular-season conference play with a three-game sweep of Stony Brook on Wednesday, Nov. 8... The win gave UAlbany its third-straight America East regular-season title & the right to host the conference tournament... The Great Danes also faced non-conference opponent Long Island on Thursday, Nov. 9, falling to the Blackbirds 3-2... Senior outside hitter Shelby Goldman (Whitby, Ontario/Anderson Collegiate) recorded 31 kills and 21 digs in the two matches... In the win over Stony Brook, Goldman tallied 12 kills and nine digs to go along with four total blocks... Versus Long Island, she posted a team-high 19 kills and 12 digs for her 14th double-double of the season... Senior setter Blair Buchanan (Muncie, Ind./Delta) averaged 38.5 assists, 4.5 kills and 8.0 digs in the two matches... Sophomore middle blocker Kamisha Kellam (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) recorded 12 kills, three digs and three block assists versus Stony Brook and added seven kills and six total blocks against Long Island... Kellam is fourth on the team with 2.06 kills per game and is recording a team-best 1.33 blocks per game... Sophomore middle blocker Hillary White (Aberdeen, S.D./Aberdeen Central) posted a career-high 10 kills against Long Island... Senior libero Kristin Fiorillo (Painted Post, N.Y./Corning West) continues to lead the Great Danes defensively with 3.73 digs per game... Fiorillo recorded 15 digs against Stony Brook and 21 versus Long Island... UAlbany will host the America East Conference Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 18 and Sunday, Nov. 19... The Great Danes will take on Stony Brook in the semifinal round at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Binghamton Bearcats
Binghamton (15-16, 9-3 America East) posted a 1-1 mark over the weekend, dropping a five-game decision to New Hampshire before besting Maine in four games in its regular season finale...Binghamton's 9-3 conference record is its second-best record since joining the America East in 2001... The Bearcats enter the 2006 America East Volleyball Championship as the No.2 seed for the second straight year... Binghamton has won seven of its last nine matches... Senior middle blocker Megan Hoag (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) became just the seventh player in Binghamton history to reach 1,000 career kills as she recorded 13 kills Sunday against Maine. Hoag now has 1,008 kills for her career joining Michele Heck '04 as the second player in the rally-scoring era to own 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Additionally, she is one of only five Bearcats in the 36-year history of the program to accomplish the feat. Hoag also tied for the team lead in digs with 16, registering her 14th double-double of the season...The defending America East Champion Bearcats' begin their quest for a second consecutive America East Volleyball Championship on Saturday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. when they face No. 3 seeded UMBC at Albany's University Gymnasium. Binghamton swept both matches from UMBC this season and has won seven straight against the Retrievers dating back to the 2000 season.
Hartford Hawks
Coming soon...
Maine Black Bears
Maine (6-20, 4-8 America East) concluded its 2006 season with a pair of losses this weekend at home to UMBC and Binghamton... The Black Bears dropped both matches by identical 3-1 scores... Lindsay Allman (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) led Maine with 12 kills on Sunday versus Binghamton ... Senior setter and co-captain Shelly Seipp (Spokane, Wash./John R. Rogers) tallied 46 assists in her final collegiate match against the Bearcats... She topped 900 assists for the fourth-straight season... The weekend was also the final weekend of collegiate competition for a trio of seniors, including Seipp, Justine Chabot (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan/Aden Bowman Collegiate Institute) and Jody Connacher (Spokane, Wash./John R. Rogers)... The trio helped the Black Bears reach the America East Tournament in back-to-back years (2004 and 2005) for the first time in school history.
UMBC Retrievers
UMBC (15-14, 7-5 America East) finishes the regular season with a winning record for the first time since joining the America East Conference in 2003... With wins against Maine and New Hampshire this week, the Retrievers earned the #3 seed in the conference tournament... this is the first time the Retrievers will compete in the conference tournament after finishing with a 4-8 record in conference play last year.... The Retrievers defeated the Black Bears 3-1 on Friday and the Wildcats 3-0 on Sunday... Sophomore Sarah Ball (Winnipeg, Canada/Sisler) finished the regular season with two double-doubles in as many matches this past week... Ball opened the week at Maine, tallying 10 kills and 12 digs as well as two block assists against the Black Bears... She added 11 kills, 11 digs, three block assists, and three service aces against New Hampshire to give her 21 kills and 23 digs last week... Ball has 15 double-doubles on the season with six occurring against conference teams... Jennifer Wylie (Timonium, Md./Dulaney) tallied 14 digs against Maine and 25 against New Hampshire to move to 534 on the season making her second on the All-Time Digs List... UMBC returns to action this week competing against Binghamton in the conference semifinals on Saturday.
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire (11-16, 6-6 America East) ended its season this week with a 3-2 win against Binghamton on Saturday at Lundholm Gym and a 3-0 loss to Maryland-Baltimore County on Sunday. Head Coach Jill Hirschinger became the 15th active NCAA head coach with 600 career victories with her win on Saturday, she has posted 191 victories in her 11 seasons as the Wildcats head coach... Junior outside hitter Emmy Blouin (St. Albert, Alberta/Paul Kane) led the team in kills in 2006 with 402, which ranks eighth on the all-time Wildcat single-season kill list, while senior co-captain Sarah Rehn (Oceanside, Calif./Vista) ends her Wildcat career with 376 kills in her senior season and 546 kills for her career... Freshman setter Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich/Pinckney) totaled 92 assists on the week in a split with Binghamton and UMBC averaging 11.50 assists per game. She amassed a career-high 68 assists and eight digs in the 3-2 win against the Bearcats and she posted 15 digs and 24 assists in the 3-0 loss to UMBC on Sunday. Uitti finished the season with a team-leading 852 assists in her freshman campaign, which ranks seventh on UNH’s all-time single-season assist leaderboard... Freshman Lindsey Loescher (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) amassed a career-high 19 kills in the match on Saturday against Binghamton.
Stony Brook Seawolves
Stony Brook (13-16, 6-6 America East) went 1-1 in the final week of the regular season... The Seawolves opened the week with a 3-0 loss to Albany and then won a must-win contest, 3-0, over Hartford to close the regular season... With New Hampshire’s loss to UMBC on Sunday the Seawolves clinched the fourth and final spot in the America East Tournament. For the second straight year the Seawolves will face top-seeded Albany in the opening round... Morgan Sweany (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley) wrapped up her best year as a Seawolf with a double-double against Albany and hit .600 with 12 kills in a win over Hartford. For the year Sweany led the Seawolves with 4.47 kills per game and was second with 2.98 digs per game... Claire Lindner (Northport, N.Y./Northport) moved to fourth all-time at Stony Brook with 1,341 career digs. Lindner is only 10 digs from the third all-time spot at Stony Brook... Kaitlyn Deutsch (St. Louis, Mo./Southern Miss) leads America East with 11.68 assists per game and already ranks in the top-10 all-time at Stony Brook with 1,261 total assists.