Binghamton's Lejina, Mueller and UMBC's Spaay Start Conference Slate Off Right With Weekly Awards

Binghamton's Lejina, Mueller and UMBC's Spaay Start Conference Slate Off Right With Weekly Awards

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Binghamton's Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary), Lindsey Mueller (West Bend, Wis./West Bend West) and UMBC's Allie Spaay (Kenosha Wis./Kenosha Tremper) all led their teams to 2-0 records during the opening weekend of conference play on their way to earning America East volleyball weekly accolades. Lejina received player of the week honors, while Mueller earned her second setter of the week award this season. Spaay captured the rookie of the week, giving the Retrievers a sweep of that award so far this year. View complete weekly release in PDF.

Lejina led Binghamton to a 2-0 start in conference play by posting an average of 4.00 kills per set in straight-set wins over Stony Brook and Hartford. The sophomore tallied 13 kills against Stony Brook and 11 kills against Hartford, both match highs. Against the Hawks, Lejina contributed a season-high eight blocks with three being solo rejections, part of the team's season-high 18 blocks. On the week she averaged 1.67 blocks per set, good for the second-best average in the conference, only behind teammate Dawn Lammert. Lejina also hit at a .326 percentage (24 kills, 9 errors, 46 attacks), a top-10 mark in the league last week. This week's honor is the outside hitter's first award from the conference office.

Mueller was a solid contributor to Binghamton's 2-0 start in conference play last week. In straight-set wins over Stony Brook and Hartford, the sophomore averaged 10.00 assists per set, while also posting 2.33 digs per set and 1.17 blocks per set. Against Stony Brook, Mueller had 35 assists, eight digs and two service aces and in the match against Hartford, Mueller had 25 assists, six digs and five blocks. The sophomore setter set-up the Bearcat attack very well all weekend, leading Binghamton to a league-high .259 hitting percentage for the week. This is Mueller's second accolade from the conference this season.

Spaay directed the Retrievers' offense with 80 assists in eight sets for an average of 10 assists per set, leading UMBC in conference wins over New Hampshire and Maine this past week. Spaay averaged 13 assists per set in a straight-set victory over New Hampshire before posting her second double-double of the season against Maine with 41 assists and 12 digs. Spaay receives this honor for the first time this season, and continues a streak of six weeks now that UMBC newcomers have captured America East's rookie of the week award.

Team Notebooks:

Albany (9-8 overall, 2-0 America East) hosted Maine and New Hampshire over the weekend to kick off America East Conference play... The Great Danes defeated the Black Bears, 3-0, on Friday and posted a 3-1 victory over New Hampshire on Sunday... Sophomore Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) averaged 3.57 kills and 3.14 digs per set to lead the team... She recorded 13 kills and nine digs against Maine and finished with a double-double of 12 kills and 13 digs against New Hampshire... Cowdrey, one of four players to see action in every set for the Great Danes this season, leads the team with 3.36 kills and 2.81 digs per set... Freshman outside hitter Kalyn Mostert (Nepean, Ontario/Marivale) averaged 1.57 kills, 1.71 digs and 1.29 blocks per set on the week... She recorded seven kills, ten digs four blocks and five service aces against New Hampshire on Sunday... Sophomore setter Brooke Stanley averaged 9.43 assists and 1.86 digs per set in the two wins... Stanley had 30 assists, nine digs and three kills against Maine and finished with 36 assists, four digs, four kills, two service aces and two blocks against New Hampshire... She is averaging 10.03 assists and 2.27 digs per set on the season... The Great Danes continue America East play over the weekend, visiting Stony Brook on Friday and Hartford on Saturday.

Binghamton (7-11, 2-0 America East) started conference play on the right foot, by sweeping both Stony Brook (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) and Hartford (25-9, 25-18, 25-18) at home. With the win over Stony Brook, Binghamton won its America East opener and also earned their victory in their last three meetings against the Seawolves. In that match, sophomore hitter Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary/U. of Latvia) tallied 13 kills and classmate Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) totaled 12 kills. Sophomore Lindsey Mueller (West Bend, Wis./West Bend West) collected 35 assists and eight blocks and senior libero Jaclyn Strader (Kettering, Ohio/Julienne Catholic) scooped a match-high 18 digs. Binghamton then moved to 2-0 in conference play with a win over Hartford. The Bearcats posted a season-high 18 blocks in the three-set match. They were led in their defensive attack by junior blocker Dawn Lammert (Sussex, Wis./Arrowhead) who tallied a career-high 12 blocks. Lejina had eight blocks and a match-high 11 kills and Mueller had 25 assists, eight digs and five blocks. On the weekend, Lejina led the team with 4.00 kps and senior Ashley Allen (Mill Creek, Wash./HM Jackson) was tops in hitting percentage, at a .516 clip (17-1-31). The Bearcats will wrap-up their current five-match home stand next weekend, hosting Maine at 7 p.m. on Friday and then New Hampshire at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The Hartford volleyball team (5-13, 0-1 America East) dropped two matches last week, the first a four-set (25-17, 15-25, 25-27, 11-25) to in-state rival Central Connecticut, the second a three-set (8-25, 18-25, 18-25) loss to Binghamton in the America East Opener. For the week, the Hawks were led by Erin Macro (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) who finished with 22 kills, averaging 3.14 kills-per-set. Macro was followed by Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ/Mountain View) with 16 kills and Maddison Molyneux (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) with 15 kills. Lindsay Ford (Carson, NV/Carson) led the Hawks with 55 assists, while Bettina Woodman (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde) led the defense with 14 digs. Joining Woodman with double digit digs for the week was Danielle Etta (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) and Ford with 13 digs each. The Hawks will play three matches this week, one mid-week match against in-state rival Connecticut on Wednesday night (7 p.m.) before two conference home matches on Friday (UMBC 7 p.m.) and Saturday (Albany 6 p.m.).  

Maine (7-9, 0-2 America East) traveled to New York to take on Albany on Friday evening... Both teams came out firing in the first set, as the Black Bears lost 26-28 after a long battle...  Maine couldn’t recover as they dropped the next two sets 11-25 and 22-25... Brittany Kiehl (Virginia Beach, Va.) led the Black Bears with nine kills and a .471 attack percentage... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ontario) had 26 assists and seven digs... Ashlee Wright (Muncie, Ind.) had a team-high 10 digs... Megan Smith (Dayton, Ohio) and Laura Goettsch (Woodstock, Ontario) each had two served aces... Maine traveled to UMBC on Sunday to battle the Retrievers to a five set loss... The Black Bears got down early, losing the first two sets 22-25 and 18-25... Maine battled back to take the next two 25-19 and 25-17... UMBC regained control and took the final set 10-15... Kiehl led the Black Bears again with 15 kills and five block assists... Lindsay Allman (St. Louis, Mo.) had 13 kills and a team-high 18 digs... Allman was one of four Maine players with double-digit digs... Wright, Wolfenden and Smith each had 14... Wolfenden also had 42 assists and seven kills... Amy Lawson (Coeur D’Alene, Idaho) finished with 11 kills... Amanda Armstrong (Waukesha, Wis.) had four block assists...The Black Bears will be looking for their first America East win when they travel to Binghamton on Friday to take on the Bearcats at 7 p.m.

UMBC (12-6, 2-0 America East) opened 2008 America East Conference play with wins over New Hampshire and Maine. On Friday, the Retrievers defeated the Wildcats in straight-sets, while on Sunday, UMBC fought back after dropping the third and fourth sets against the Black Bears, to win the fifth and decisive set, 15-10... Sophomore Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) hit .382 for the week and led the Retrievers in kills (30), total blocks (10) and service aces with six. Scheetz had game-highs in kills in both matches with 13 against UNH and 17 against Maine... Freshman Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wisc./Kenosha Tremper) directed the UMBC offense, averaging 10 assists per set for the week that included earning a double-double against Maine, with 41 assists and 12 digs... Junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) posted double-digit kills in both matches with 11 against the Wildcats and 12 vs. the Black Bears... Freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) earned 19 kills and 18 digs for the week, including her fifth double-double of the season against Maine with 12 kills and 10 digs... The Retrievers return to action Friday at 7 p.m. when they travel to Hartford and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stony Brook.

 

New Hampshire (3-15, 0-2 America East) went 0-3 on the week dropping its final non-conference match of the year on Tuesday against Harvard (3-2) and a pair of difficult America East road matches at UMBC (3-0) and Albany (3-1)... Junior Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) led the Wildcats offensively all week with 53 kills over three matches (17.67 kpm, 4.4 kps)... In the Harvard match (26-24, 27-25, 21-25, 22-25, 15-12), Bates paced the offense with 21 kills and 15 digs... In addition to Bates, freshman Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H./Concord) matched a career-high with 15 kills and had three blocks, while Lindsay Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./AmadorValley) tallied double-figure kills with 11, while setter Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) saw the majority of action and recorded a team-best 36 assists... On Friday night in the conference opener against UMBC (25-23, 25-12, 25-23) Bates taliied a team-best 12 kills, while Fogarty and Laquerre had five kills... Sara Heldman (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) had 28 assists and senior Lucia Bridova (Bratislava, Slovakia/Gym a Stredni Frydek-Mistek) led the way defensively with 13 digs... Against Albany on Sunday, Uitti had a UNH season-best 46 assists, while Bates had her fourth 20+ kill performance of the season... UNH returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 11 against America East foe Binghamton... Match time is 4 p.m. in Vestal, N.Y... The Wildcats return home on Saturday, Oct. 18, when they play host to league foe Hartford. Match time is 1 p.m. at Lundholm Gymnasium.

Stony Brook (9-10, 0-1 America East) stumbled out of the gates in conference play, dropping its opening match against Binghamton, 3-0. The Seawolves were led by junior Lisa Doremus (Glendale, Ariz.) who recorded eight kills with a .467 attack percentage. Doremus also recoded three aces in the match. Sophomore Ashley Headen (Alexandria, Va.) had a strong match for the Seawolves as well, posting five kills and a .444 attack percentage while leading Stony Brook with five block assists. Stony Brook will host its America East home opener this Friday when in-state rival Albany visits Pritchard Gymnasium. The Seawolves will then host UMBC on Sunday starting at 1:00 p.m.