CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Stony Brook University's Jackie Ahlers (Stony Point, N.Y./St. John's) received the America East
Volleyball Player of the Week for the week ending September 16 as she led the Seawolves to a 3-0 week and the Bucknell Invitational team title.
University at Albany's Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario, Cardinal Leger) and New Hampshire's Kate Uitti
(Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) garnered Rookie and Setter of the Week honors, respectively. Click here for full release.
Ahlers continued her strong play in the first month of the season last week as her offensive skills led Stony Brook to its first undefeated week of the season. Playing at the Bucknell Invitational, Ahlers was named to the all-tournament team after reaching double figures in kills in all three matches as the Seawolves won all three in three games. Ahlers started the tournament with an 18-kill, three-ace, and three-block outing against St. Francis. On Saturday, she hit .465 against Radford, putting away 16 kills and registering four blocks. In the finale against host Bucknell, Ahlers again hit over the .400 mark and recorded 13 kills. The conference leader in kills per game, Ahlers averaged 5.22 per game last week. She finished the tournament with a .422 hitting percentage and 6.17 points per game.
Cowdrey averaged 3.73 kills, 4.07 digs and .33 blocks per game to lead Albany to an undefeated week. Cowdrey, who was named to the UAlbany Classic All-Tournament Team, recorded her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season with 14 kills and 21 digs against Eastern Michigan followed by a 17-kill, 20-dig performance against Northeastern. The freshman outside hitter also reached double-digit kill totals with 14 kills to go along with seven digs, four service aces and two blocks against Troy on Monday. She finished up the week with 12 digs and eight kills against Brown. Cowdrey is third on the team overall for the season, averaging 3.12 kills, 3.22 digs and .41 service aces per game.
Uitti was instrumental in the Wildcats' sweep at the UNH Tournament over the weekend. The sophomore setter had 157 assists (14.27 per game) over the three matches. Her weekend was highlighted by a career-best 78 assists in a 3-2 win over Syracuse. That is the highest single-match assist total in America East this season. Uitti also set the table with 34 and 45 assists, respectively, in wins over Holy Cross and Southern Methodist. This is the second time this season Uitti has been named Setter of the Week by the conference.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (7-5 overall record, 0-0 America East record) went undefeated in five matches last week... The Great Danes defeated Alabama State, 3-0, and Troy, 3-1, on the road before hosting the UAlbany Classic in University Gymnasium over the weekend... UAlbany claimed the tournament championship with a 3-1 win over Eastern Michigan, a 3-0 victory against Northeastern and a 3-0 sweep of Brown... Junior middle hitter Kamisha Kellam (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) averaged a team-best 4.31 kills and 1.19 blocks in five matches last week, en route to being named Tournament MVP of the UAlbany Classic... She recorded double-digit kill totals in four straight matches, finishing with 15 kills in a 3-1 win over Troy, 18 kills and five blocks in a 3-1 victory over Eastern Michigan, totaled 15 kills and four blocks against Northeastern and wrapped up the week with a 14-kill, seven-block performance in a 3-0 win over Brown... America East Rookie of the Week Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) averaged 3.73 kills, 4.07 digs and 0.33 blocks last week... Cowdrey, who was named to the UAlbany Classic All-Tournament Team, recorded her fourth and fifth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 21 digs against Eastern Michigan followed by a 17-kill, 20-dig performance against Northeastern... The freshman outside hitter also reached double-digit kill totals with 14 kills to go along with seven digs, four service aces and two blocks against Troy... Cowdrey is third on the team overall for the season, averaging 3.12 kills, 3.22 digs and 0.41 service aces per game... Freshman setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 12.62 assists and 3.69 digs per game last week... Stanley, who is averaging a team-high 8.93 assists per game for the Great Danes, recorded four straight double-double matches... She finished with 44 assists and 13 digs to go along with six service aces in a 3-1 win over Troy, then posted career highs with 51 assists and 18 digs in a 3-1 victory over Eastern Michigan... Stanley continued her strong play with a 42-assist, 16-dig performance in a win over Northeastern, and wrapped up the week with 47 assists and 10 digs against Brown... She finished with a team-best 13 service aces for the week, and also added 11 kills and three total blocks... The Great Danes will travel to Philadelphia to compete in the Sheraton-Penn Invitational next weekend... UAlbany will take on Temple on Saturday at 1 p.m. before playing the host Quakers and Quinnipiac on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
After winning six of seven, Binghamton (6-9, 0-0 America East) has now lost five consecutive matches. The Bearcats had a school-record 14-game home winning streak snapped against Syracuse on Tuesday, before posting an 0-4 mark over two days of action at Villanova Volleyball Classic... Junior Ashley Allen (Mill Creek, Wash./HM Jackson) averaged 3.00 kills per game to lead the Bearcats on the week... Junior Jaclyn Strader (Kettering, Ohio/Julienne Catholic) continued her strong play on the Bearcat back row, registering a team-high 85 digs in five games (5.00 per game)... Binghamton looks to get back on track this upcoming weekend at LIU's Blackbird Invitational in Brooklyn. The Bearcats match up against Yale on Friday, before taking on host LIU and Towson University on Saturday.
Hartford (6-7, 0-0 America East) completed a 2-2 week with victories over Marist (3-2), Howard (3-0) and losses to George Washington (3-1) and East Carolina (3-0). The Hawks hosted the Red Foxes on Tuesday before playing the final three matches of the week at the George Washington Invitational in Washington, DC. The Hawks were led over the week by senior Jennifer Monroy (Rahway, NJ/Union Catholic) who finished with a team best 46 kills. She finished with team highs of 15 kills in the Hawks' win over Marist and loss to George Washington. She also recorded double digit digs (17) in the win over Marist for her third double double of the season. Lindsey Ford (Carson , NV /Carson) continues to captain the Hawks offense with 157 assists last week, the most for a four-match span for the rookie. She started the week tying her career high of 50 assists in the win over Marist but then broke that mark with 51 assists in the loss to George Washington. She also recorded her third double double with 13 digs in the win over Marist. The rookie also knocked down nine kills last week. Hartford will play three matches at the Harvard Invitational this coming weekend (Friday against NJIT, Saturday against Hartford and Dartmouth ).
Maine (1-12, 0-0 America East) lost three tough games this weekend against Dartmouth (1-3), URI (0-3) and Texas State (0-3)... The opening match of the tournament for Maine against Dartmouth was a close one... Maine held all the games to close finishes (27-30, 30-28, 29-31, 26-30) before relinquishing the match in the fourth game... Maine was led in the match by junior Lindsay Allman and freshman Megan Smith both with 11 kills... Junior Jessica Wolfenden had five service aces in the match... In the second match (23-30, 20-30, 30-32), URI kept Maine at arm’s length until the third game when Maine made some great runs and almost took the game... The Black Bears were led in the match by Allman again with 13 kills followed by classmate Brittany Kiehl with 10... In the final match of the weekend (22-30, 24-30, 28-30), the Black Bears took on Texas State and once again, Maine’s late runs raised the temperature of the match but failed to score those two last points to put a game away... Maine was led in the match by juniors Allman, Wolfenden and sophomore Jennifer Domer each with nine kills... Allman totalled 33 kills overall on the weekend and was named to the tournament’s all-tournament team... Maine again led all teams with a weekend total of 20 service aces with 10 of them coming in the match against Dartmouth alone... This week, Maine has an exhibition game against the University of New Brunswick on September 22 before Maine begins its America East schedule next weekend against UMBC and Binghamton.
UMBC (9-3, 0-0 America East) earned their first home victory last week, as they downed Howard, 3-0, on Tuesday night and earned their first win over Towson since 2000 as they handed the Tigers a 3-2 loss on the first day of the Towson Tournament... The Retrievers also fell to No. 21 Dayton and Western Kentucky by scores of 3-0 and 3-1 during the Towson Tournament... The Retrievers earned their fourth and fifth straight victories over Howard and Towson, but then had that streak snapped as they fell to No. 21 Dayton... Sophomore Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Glenlawn) added 122 assists to bring her career total to 1,285, sixth all-time for the Retrievers... Giles also averaged 3.38 digs per game and 1.08 blocks per game during the Retrievers’ four matches last week... Freshman Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) continued her outstanding freshman campaign as she averaged 0.64 service aces per game and 1.29 blocks per game during last week’s matches while also leading the Retrievers with 1.33 blocks per game during the Towson Tournament... Sophomore Tiffany Johnson (Abingdon, Md./Kansas State/Arundel) was named to the All-Tournament team at the Towson Tournament after averaging 1.30 blocks per game and 2.25 points per game during the tournament. Johnson also posted a .333 hitting percentage and averaged 1.75 kills per game, 1.25 blocks per game and 2.38 points per game during last week... The Retrievers return home for a three-match stand this week beginning with Tuesday’s match against Coppin State before they host Fairleigh Dickinson and Morgan State in a tri-match on Saturday.
New Hampshire (9-4, 0-0 America East) captured the title at the UNH Tournament with a weekend sweep of Holy Cross, Syracuse and SMU... With the tournament win, head coach Jill Hirschinger captured her 200th win as head coach at UNH... She now has 609 wins for her storied career... The tournament win is the second tournament the Wildcats have won this season... UNH opened the season by winning its first three games en route to the title at the Colgate Tournament... Seniors Emmy Blouin (St. Albert, Alberta/Paul Kane) and Jess Compton (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove Smith) each tallied a match-high eight kills, while America East Setter of the Week Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) recorded a match-best 34 assists in the opening round win over Holy Cross... In the win over Syracuse, senior outside hitter Toni Barnas (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) finished just two kills shy of the University record as she recorded a career-best 36 kills in a 3-2 win over Syracuse... The win over the Orange was just the second win over Syracuse in program history and the first since 2003... Sophomore middle blocker Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) had a match-high 20 kills, while Blouin and Barnas added 15 and 10, respectively... Uitti set the table for the 'Cats in the game with 45 assists, 12 digs and a .333 hitting percentage... As a team, the Wildcats hit at a .307 clip that was headlined by a .351 mark in the final game... UNH's Lahti, Barnas, Uitti anchored a seven-member all-tournament team... The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday with a non-conference tilt at Harvard... Game time at Lavietes Pavilion is 7 p.m.
Stony Brook (8-6, 0-0 America East) went 3-0 this week, its first undefeated week of the season ... the Seawolves did not drop a game in winning the team title at Bucknell ... SBU has now won the last two tournaments in which it has played ... the Seawolves have won five of their last six, including a season-high four straight ... SBU placed three players on the all-tournament team, America East Player of the Week Jackie Ahlers, Morgan Sweany and Noelle Bay ... Sweany was just behind Ahlers in kills at the Bucknell tournament, reaching double figures in each match while averaging 4.89 per game while registering one double-double ... Bay was named the tournament’s outstanding libero after averaging 4.56 digs per game in addition to leading the team with a total of seven aces ... freshman Ashley Headen set a new career-high with seven blocks in the match against Bucknell.