CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- America East Conference named Binghamton's Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) the volleyball player of the week, UMBC's Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wis./Kenosha Tremper) rookie of the week and Albany's Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) setter of the week on Monday for the week ending October 12. The Bearcats, Retrievers and Great Danes each went 2-0 last week in America East volleyball action. View complete weekly release in PDF.
McDonough posted a 3.71 kills per set average while hitting at a .333 percentage (26-9-51) to help Binghamton go 2-0 last week. She also averaged 1.86 digs per set and 1.00 blocks per set. Against Maine, she put up a match-high 14 kills while hitting at a .440 clip and also tallied four digs and five blocks. She also added 12 kills and nine digs in the win over New Hampshire. The sophomore also moved into the school's Division I top 10 list this week in career kills and has a two-year total of 488.
Spaay directed the Retrievers offense with 58 assists (9.67 aps) in conference wins at Hartford and Stony Brook, while tying for the team lead with six total blocks for the week. the freshman earned 28 assists with two service aces against the Hawks on Friday, before adding 30 assists, six digs and six total blocks against the Seawolves on Sunday. This is her second consecutive rookie award from the conference office.
Stanley led Albany to two America East Conference wins over the weekend, averaging 11.29 assists and 2.43 digs per set. Stanley recorded a double-double in a 3-1 win over Stony Brook with a match-high 48 assists and 13 digs, along with five kills, three block assists and one service ace. In a three-set sweep ofHartford, Stanley had a match-best 31 assists with four digs, three service aces and two kills, while hitting .667. Stanley is averaging 10.15 assists per set for the season to lead the conference, and leads the Great Danes with 24 service aces.
Wednesday's match between Albany and Siena has been designated a "Dig Pink" match and will be televised in the Capital District on Time Warner television. Towson will visit UMBC for another nonconference match-up Wednesday while America East play will get underway again on Friday, October 17.
Team Notebooks:
Albany
(11-8 overall, 4-0 in America East) remained undefeated in conference play, defeating Stony Brook,
3-1, and Hartford,
3-0, both on the road... Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal
Leger) averaged 3.43 kills and 2.29 digs in the two matches... Cowdrey recorded
her seventh double-double of the season and her 11th straight match with double
figure kills against Stony Brook with 16 kills and 10 digs... She leads the team
on the season with 3.37 kills per set, and is second with 2.76 digs per set...
Sophomore setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville,
N.C./West Henderson)
averaged 11.29 assists and 2.43 digs per set over the weekend... She recorded a
match-high 48 assists and 13 digs, along with five kills, three block assists
and one service ace against Stony Brook and followed with a 31-assist
performance against Hartford, adding four digs, three service aces and two
kills, while hitting .667... Stanley
is averaging 10.15 assists for the season and leads the Great Danes with 24 service
aces... Senior middle blocker Hillary White (Aberdeen,
S.D./Aberdeen) recorded 3.43 kills, including 14 against Stony Brook and a
team-high 10 versus Hartford...
The Great Danes will host crosstown-rival Siena
on Wednesday in a “Dig Pink” match that will be televised in the Capital
District on Time Warner (TW3)... UAlbany will then continue conference play
hosting Binghamton
on Friday.
Binghamton (9-11, 4-0 America East) wrapped up
a five match home stand by defeating Maine 3-0 and New Hampshire 3-1 this past
weekend. The Bearcats won all five of the home matches and have also won six of
their last eight. Against Maine, sophomore
hitter Michelle
McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) put up a match-high 14 kills
while hitting at a .440 clip (14-3-25) and also tallied four digs and five
blocks. Sophomore hitter Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/Riga
Secondary/U. of Latvia) contributed
10 kills in the match and senior libero Jaclyn Strader (Kettering, Ohio/Julienne
Catholic) grabbed 13 digs. In Binghamton's 3-1
win over New Hampshire,
McDonough crushed 12 kills while also grabbing nine digs. Lejina contributed 13
kills and Strader collected a match-high 16 digs. Sophomore setter Lindsey Mueller (West
Bend, Wis./West Bend
West) handed out 40 assists to go along with eight digs. On the week, McDonough
had a 3.74 kps average while hitting at a .333 percentage. Mueller dished out an
even 10 assists per set and Strader averaged 4.14 digs per set. Junior middle Dawn
Lammert (Sussex,
Wis./Arrowhead) and sophomore middle Mercedes Montford (Gilbert,
Ariz./Highland)
have been solid on the defensive side of the net, each averaging 1.14 bps on
the week. Senior Ashley Allen (Mill
Creek, Wash./HM Jackson) moved into sole
possession of the schools Division I record book for career blocks and
currently has a total of 269. This weekend the Bearcats will compete in road
matches against Albany
and UMBC.
The Hartford
volleyball team (5-16, 0-3 America East) dropped three matches, including two
America East matches last week ... Hartford opened the week with a 1-3 loss at
Connecticut (25-20, 18-25, 11-25, 12-28) and dropped back-to-back three-set
matches to UMBC (21-25, 1725, 16-25) and Albany (21-25, 15-25, 19-25) over the
weekend ... For the week, the Hawks were led by Erin Macro (Lincoln, RI) who finished with 33 kills and a .243
attack percentage ... Hallie Fullagar (Mesa,
AZ) and Maddison Molyneux (Caledon,
Ontario) also hit well for Hartford, finishing with 25 and 20 kills
respectively ... Freshman Lindsay
Makowicki (Norwich, CT) also hit well, finishing with 16 kills,
including seven in the Hawks loss to UMBC ... Sophomore Lindsay Ford (Carson, NV) continues to lead the Hawks in
assists, finishing with 90 over the three matches last week ... Defensively, the
Hawks were led by freshman Danielle Etta
(Cold Spring, NY) who has stepped into the Libero roll ... Etta finished the week
with 37 digs, including a double digit digs against Connecticut and UMBC,
finishing with 14 in each match ... The Hawks will play a pair of conference
games this week, the first at Maine on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. before traveling
to New Hampshire for a 2:00 p.m. meeting on Sunday.
Maine (7-10, 0-3 America East) struggled as it traveled to New York
for its lone match of the weekend to take on Binghamton University (9-11, 4-0
AE). Falling in three sets, the Black Bears never found their rhythm
offensively, losing 14-25, 16-25 and 19-25. Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ontario)
gave the offense its only consistency as she assisted on 26 of Maine’s 32
kills, she also collected five digs. Lindsay Allman (St. Louis, Mo.) continued
her great season as she led the Black Bears with 14 digs and tied for the
team-high with eight kills. Amy Lawson (Couer D’Alene, Id.) had eight kills as
well. Brittany Keihl’s (Virginia Beach, Va.) recent string of stellar offensive
and defensive performances slowed down only slightly as she had six kills and a
team-high .278 attack percentage, while also collecting Maine’s only solo
block. The Black Bears have found themselves in a tough slide as they opened
conference play with three road matches, resulting in three loses. They will be
looking forward to hosting their first America East match of the 2008-09 season
next weekend, when Stony Brook and Hartford come to Orono, marking Maine’s
first home match in over 20 days.
UMBC (14-6, 4-0
America East) defeated both Hartford and Stony Brook in straight sets for two
key away victories this past weekend. The Retrievers have won their first four
conference matches since joining the America East in 2003, and first time since
they started 4-0 in the Northeast Conference in 2002... Junior Ashley Oscars
(Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) led the Retrievers with 24 kills (4 kps) for the
week and tied for the team lead with freshman Allie Spaay (Kenosha,
Wisc./Kenosha Tremper) with six total blocks. Oscars had a game-high 15 kills
against the Seawolves on Sunday... Spaay directed the UMBC offense with 58
assists (9.67 aps) in the two matches, including a 30 assist, six total block
performance against Stony Brook... Sophomore Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis.
Mo./Ursuline Academy) added five assisted blocks to give her 74 for the season,
one shy of eighth place on the single-season record book for assisted blocks...
The Retrievers return home Wednesday for a non-conference matchup against local
rival Towson at 7 p.m. before returning to America East action Sunday, when
they play host to Binghamton at 2 p.m.
New Hampshire (3-16, 0-3 America East) lost to America East foe
Binghamton University, 3-1, in its lone match of the week... The match scores
were 25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 22-25... Lindsay Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador
Valley) posted a match-high 14 kills... In addition to Fogarty on offense,
freshman Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H./Concord) tallied 13 kills, while junior
Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) had 10. Defensively, junior Alyse Lahti (Pepper
Pike, Ohio/Orange) led the way for the Wildcats with 14 digs, while
fellow junior Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) tied her season-high with
46 assists... UNH looks forward to a return to the friendly confines of
Lundholm Gymnasium with a pair of matches against league foes Hartford (Sat. 1
p.m.) and Stony Brook (Sun. 1 p.m.)... The Wildcats are 2-3 at home this
season.
Stony Brook (9-12,
0-3 America East) dropped both of its conference matches this weekend, losing to Albany, 3-1
(25-17, 25-22, 25-27, 25-21), and UMBC, 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-18)...the Seawolves
were led offensively once again by senior Gulce Nazli Dikecligil who tallied 29
kills (4.14/set) and four aces...Dikecligil had her best game of the week against
Albany, recording a double-double with 20 kills and 13 digs...Sophomore Alicia
Nelson was the most potent attacker against UMBC, finishing with 11 kills and a
.310 attack percentage... Junior Michelle Burrola led Stony Brook in digs,
averaging 5.00/set...Stony Brook will be on the road this week, traveling to
Maine on Friday and New Hampshire on Sunday.