CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- All three America East volleyball weekly award winners have captured multiple honors from the conference office this season, led by UMBC freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) with her seventh America East rookie of the week. Stony Brook senior Gulce Nazli Dikecligil (Istanbul, Turkey) earned her fourth player of the week of the season and sophomore Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) from Albany won her third straight, sixth overall, setter of the week award. View complete weekly release in PDF.
Dikecligil's 4.57 kills per set led the conference last week and led Stony Brook to a 2-0 record in league games. The senior outside hitter recorded eight aces, seven of them coming in one match. She made just six attack errors, fewer than anybody else in the league with over 54 attempts, registering a .388 hitting percentage. She added seven digs and two blocks to her weekly stats as she picks up her fourth player of the week honor this season.
Lang wins her seventh rookie of the week of the season with more solid play for the Retrievers last week. The freshmen averaged 3.14 kills and 3.14 digs per set last week in two games against league-leading Albany, and led the team with two service aces. Lang recorded nine kills Friday night, before earning her seventh double-double of the season on Sunday with 13 kills and 16 digs. She continues to lead all freshmen in America East in kills and aces.
Stanley continued to lead the Great Danes in the conference slate last week with two wins over UMBC. The sophomore setter averaged 10.14 assists, 3.00 digs and 1.43 kills per set in two games and quarterbacked Albany to a .260 team hitting percentage. On Friday on the road, Stanley recorded 30 assists to go along with eight digs, two kills and one service ace. At home on Sunday, she notched a double-double with 41 assists, 13 digs and eight kills, along with a .571 hitting percentage. This is her third straight setter honor, and sixth such award of the season.
Last week marked the halfway point of the America East volleyball season, as teams continue to play each other the second time around during the regular season. Albany remains the only undefeated team in conference games. The last time any America East team finished a conference season undefeated was the 2000 season in which Hofstra went 16-0.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (15-8 overall, 7-0 America East) remained undefeated in
conference play, defeating UMBC, 3-0, on Friday and posting a 3-1 victory over
the Retrievers at home on Sunday... Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey
(Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) averaged 2.86 kills and 3.71 digs per set,
along with two blocks, seven assists and two service aces in the two wins... On
Friday in Baltimore,
Cowdrey finished with nine kills and eight digs and
added two total blocks and two service aces... Sunday at home, Cowdrey recorded
her ninth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 18 digs...The sophomore
outside hitter, who is one of just four players to see action in every set this
season, leads the team on the season with 3.44 kills per set and is second on
the squad with 2.87 digs per set.... Sophomore setter
Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 10.14
assists, 3.00 digs and 1.43 kills per set... On Friday on the road at UMBC, Stanley recorded 30
assists to go along with eight digs, two kills and one service ace... At home on
Sunday against the Retrievers, the sophomore setter notched a double-double
with 41 assists, 13 digs and eight kills, along with a .571 hitting percentage...
Stanley, who is averaging 10.43 assists per set on the season, has led the
Great Danes to nine straight wins, including seven straight in conference play,
and is one of just four players to see action in every set this season...Senior
middle blocker Kamisha Kellam (Forestville, Md./Bishop McNamara) averaged 3.14
kills per set over the weekend and added five total blocks and seven digs... The
Great Danes will look to continue their winning streak over the weekend,
hitting the road for conference matches at New Hampshire
and Maine on
Friday and Sunday.
Binghamton (10-12, 5-1 America East) was off last week but currently
sits in second place in the conference with a 5-1 mark. The Bearcats have been
led this season by the young duo of sophomore hitters Michelle
McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew)
and Anna Lejina (Riga,
Latvia/Riga Secondary/U. of Latvia).
McDonough is averaging 3.26 kills per set while hitting at a .212 clip and
Lejina is averaging 3.29 kills per set and is hitting at a .206 percentage.
McDonough is also scooping up 2.15 digs per set and blocking at a 0.66 per set
average. McDonough has knocked down double-digit kills 12 times this season and
has posted three double-doubles (kills-digs). McDonough now has 515 career
kills and is only the third sophomore in program history to surpass the
500-kill plateau. Going into last weekend the Bearcats were tops in the America
East in blocking (2.18 per set) and junior middle Dawn
Lammert (Sussex, Wis./Arrowhead) leads the
way with a team-high 1.04 blocks per set. Sophomore middle Merecedes Montford (Glibert, Ariz/Highland) has been
contributing 0.94 blocks per set. The Bearcats will return to the court after a
nine-day break in their final non-conference match of the year at Cornell on
Tuesday at 7 p.m. Binghamton will then be looking for the season sweep of both
Hartford and Stony Brook in two away contests on Friday and Sunday,
respectively.
The Hartford volleyball team (5-20
overall, 0-7 America East) dropped a pair of conference matches over the weekend, both to
the Stony Brook Seawolves. The first loss was a four-set decision on Friday
night in Long Island, the second loss was a three-set decision on Sunday
afternoon at the Reich Family Pavilion. Over the two matches, the Hawks were
led by junior Erin Macro (Lincoln,
RI) who was one of four players to record double digit kills with 22 total. She
finished with a .186 attack percentage with 11 errors in 59 total attempts.
Joining her with double digits on the week was Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ), Maddison Molyneux (Caledon, Ontario) and Lindsay Makowicki (Norwich, CT). Fullagar finished with eighteen,
Molyneux added 15, while Makowicki finished with 11, while leading the hitters
with a .250 attack percentage with six errors in 20 total attempts. Lindsay Ford (Carson, NV) led the
team with 62 assists, while Danielle
Etta (Cold Spring, NY) led the defense with 23 digs, starting both matches
as the libero. For the season, Macro leads the team with 264 kills and a .196
attack percentage (132 errors, 672 total attacks). The Hawks will play their
final non-conference match of the season, a Wednesday night match at Providence
at 7:00 p.m. They then host the Binghamton Bearcats in their only conference
match of the week on Halloween, October 31, at 6:00 p.m.
The Maine Black Bears (10-11, 4-3 America East) had an up-and-down
weekend as they took part in a home-and-home series with rival New Hampshire...
In Friday night’s match, Maine dropped the first set 25-27, only to reel off
three straight wins by scores of 25-16, 25-14 and 25-18 to secure their third
consecutive conference win... Lindsay Allman (St. Louis, Mo.) powered the Black
Bear attack as she had a match-high 18 kills and a .405 hitting percentage... She
also dug 12 balls and had five served aces... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ont.)
served up 38 assists for a Maine offense that had a .237 attack percentage... She
also had 12 digs, two served aces and two total blocks... Laura Goettsch
(Woodstock, Ont.) reached double-digits as she had 13 kills and seven digs... Amy
Lawson (Coeur D’Alene, Idaho) proved to be a force in front of the net as she
amassed seven total blocks... Ashlee Wright (Muncie, Ind.) had a team-high 14
digs... Maine also held the “Dig Pink” match on Friday night, raising close to
$1,500 to fight breast cancer, accepting donations in the week preceding the
event and during the match itself... The Black Bears took to the road on Sunday
and fell in a fiercely fought five sets at Durham by scores of 21-25, 25-19,
25-19, 22-25 and 12-15... Allman tied for the match-high with 20 kills on a .298
attack percentage... She also dug a match-high 23 balls and had three served
aces... Lawson provided offensive power on Sunday with 12 kills and two served
aces... Wolfenden shelled out 42 assists, four served aces and compiled nine
digs... Wright finished with 16 digs... Maine went 1-1 on the weekend and remains
tied with New Hampshire for fourth place in America East... The Black Bears will
host UMBC on Friday, October 31, at 5 p.m. before welcoming conference leader
Albany to Orono on Sunday, November 2, at 2 p.m.
UMBC (15-9, 4-3
America East) suffered two defeats to first place Albany over the weekend, 3-0
on Friday in Baltimore and 3-1 on Sunday in Albany, N.Y.... Redshirt freshman
Sarah Hill (Richmond, Va./L.C. Bird) had her best week as a Retriever yet,
leading the team with a .419 hitting percentage and 23 kills (3.29 kps) in two
matches against first place Albany. On Friday, the redshirt freshman had her
best match to date with eight kills before nearly doubling that Sunday with a
season-high 15 kills against only three errors... Three UMBC players recorded
double-doubles Sunday with junior Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada/Glenlawn) earning 40 assists and 11 digs in just the final three sets,
junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) adding her fourth of the
season with a game high 16 kills and 16 digs and freshman Alyssa Lang
(Richmond, Va./Deep Run) earning her seventh of the season with 13 kills and 16
digs... Sophomore Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) now has 83
assisted blocks on the season, the fifth most in a single season in UMBC
history... The Retrievers travel to New England this coming weekend, facing off
with Maine on Friday at 5 p.m. before taking on New Hampshire Sunday at 1 p.m.
New Hampshire (6-17, 3-4 America East) earned a split of a
home-and-home series with America East
foe Maine...
Both teams won on their home court... On Friday night in Orono, the Wildcats
captured the first set but the Black Bears responded by capturing
three-straight sets to earn the win... UNH won four-straight rallies to tie the
set at 20, eventually winning 27-25... The Black Bears won the next three sets,
25-16, 25-14, and 25-18... Freshman Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) had a team-high 10
kills... In addition to Keding, junior Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop
Carroll) added nine kills and 16 digs... Pauline Acres
(Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa) and Lindsay Fogarty
(Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) each had seven kills, while setters
Sara Heldman (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) and Kate Uitti
(Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) had 18 and 14 assists, respectively... Defensively, Alyse
Lahti (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) had a match-best
19 digs... Lauren Laquerre (Concord,
N.H./Concord.) and Acres both
recorded career highs in kills with 20 and 18, respectively, to lead the 'Cats
to a 3-2 come-from-behind win... Acres tallied a personal-best 11 digs and three
blocks to complement her .341 hitting percentage... Laquerre, whose previous
career high in kills was 15, finished with a personal high of 53 attack
attempts as well as an impressive .302 hitting percentage... Uitti
effectively orchestrated the 'Cat attack with a season-high 52 assists, and she
also recorded a season-high 14 digs... Bates had a solid
all-around match with 12 kills, a .219 hitting percentage, 11 digs and two
blocks; she had four kills and four digs in the decisive fifth set... New Hampshire returns to
action next weekend for two home matches. The Wildcats play host to Albany on Oct. 31 (7
p.m.) and UMBC on Nov. 2 (1 p.m.).
Stony Brook (11-14,
2-5 America East) picked up its first two conference victories this weekend, defeating
Hartford twice, 3-1 (12-25, 25-15, 25-12, 25-13), 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 30-28)...Senior
Gulce Nazli Dikecligil paced Stony Brook offensively, registering 4.57
kills/set and improved upon her nationally-ranked service aces per set average
by totaling eight in two sets... Stony Brook received a well-rounded defensive
effort with sophomore Ashley Headen racking up 13 total blocks, junior Michelle
Burrola averaging 3.14 digs/set and senior Jessica Graham digging 2.29 balls
per set and picking up eight blocks...Stony Brook will look to extend its
conference winning-streak this weekend when it hosts Binghamton on Sunday.