CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Binghamton University went 3-0 last week and was rewarded accordingly with the America East player of the week in Michelle McDonough (Orland Hill, Ill./Andrew) and the setter of the week in Lindsey Mueller (West Bend, Wis./West Bend West). Also, UMBC's freshman outside hitter Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) won her third consecutive rookie of the week, and eighth overall this season from the conference. All three awards are for the week ending November 2.
McDonough averaged a league-leading 5.00 kills per set, as well as 2.89 digs and 0.69 blocks per set on the week in leading Binghamton to a 3-0 mark. McDonough posted 17 kills, eight digs and four blocks against Cornell, 18 kills and nine digs versus Hartford and finally 10 kills and nine digs against Stony Brook. McDonough has now reached double-digits in kills 15 times on the season. For the year, she is hitting .223 and is second in the conference with 3.45 kills per set. This is McDonough's second accolade of the season from the conference office.
With her eighth award of the season, Lang has now received the league's rookie of the week honor more times than any other rookie in conference history. Last week, she led America East with six service aces and was second on the team in kills with 24 (2.67 kps) and digs with 33 (3.67 dps). The freshman earned consecutive double-doubles with 12 kills and 15 digs against Maine on Friday and led the team with 12 kills and four service aces while adding 18 digs in a win over New Hampshire on Sunday. Lang now has nine double-doubles on the season.
Mueller picks up her third setter award of the season for being a critical part of the Binghamton offensive attack last week, helping the Bearcats to a 3-0 mark. The sophomore averaged 12.22 assists and 2.44 digs per set on the week. Mueller accumulated 40 assists and seven digs against Cornell, 34 assists and eight digs against Hartford and 36 assists and seven digs against Stony Brook, all in three-set victories. Mueller is second in America East with 10.15 assists per set on the season.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (15-8 overall, 7-0 in America East) remained undefeated in
conference play, recording three-set sweeps over New
Hampshire on Friday and Maine
on Sunday... The Great Danes have now won 11 straight matches, and 13 of their
last 14, dating back to late September... Senior middle blocker Hillary White (Aberdeen,
S.D./Aberdeen/Colorado State) averaged 3.33 kills, 2.17 digs and 0.67 blocks
per set to lead the Great Danes over the weekend... She had a match-high 12 kills
against New Hampshire and finished with eight
kills, 11 digs and three total blocks versus Maine... Junior outside hitter Valerie
Sourbeer (Valley Center, Calif./Valley
Center/Pacific) averaged a team-high 3.67 kills per set over the weekend,
recording nine against New Hampshire and a
match-high 13 versus Maine...
Sophomore setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville,
N.C./West Henderson)
averaged 11.50 assists, 1.67 kills and 1.50 digs per set in the two matches... Stanley recorded 31
assists, five kills, six digs and two service aces in the sweep of the Wildcats
and tallied 38 assists, five kills, three digs and one service ace in the
defeat of the Black Bears... She continues to lead the team and the conference,
averaging 10.50 assists per set and had recorded a team-high 30 service aces...
Senior middle blocker Kamisha Kellam (Forestville,
Md./Bishop McNamara) recorded 12
total blocks, including five solo rejections, in the two matches over the
weekend... She is currently second in UAlbany’s career standings with 398 total
blocks... UAlbany will look to continue its win streak with a single match on the
road at Binghamton
on Sunday.
Binghamton (13-12, 7-1 America East) won each of its three matches last week with a score
of 3-0. The Bearcats swept Cornell, Hartford
and Stony Brook, all on the road. The Bearcats have won four straight matches
and nine of their last ten. Binghamton
currently sits in second place in the conference and has clinched a playoff
spot. Leading the way for Binghamton was sophomore
hitter Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew)
who averaged 5.00 kills, 2.89 digs and 0.69 blocks per set on the week. McDonough posted 17 kills, eight digs and four blocks
against Cornell, 18 kills and nine digs versus Hartford and finally 10 kills and nine digs
against Stony Brook. Sophomore setter Lindsey Mueller (West
Bend, Wis./West Bend West) was a critical part of Binghamton's offense as well, averaging 12.22
assists and 2.44 digs per set on the week. Mueller accumulated 40 assists and seven
digs against Cornell, 34 assists and eight digs against Hartford and 36 assists and seven digs
against Stony Brook. Binghamton will host UMBC on Friday at 6 p.m. as a part of Senior
Night for three graduating Bearcat seniors and will then welcome in Albany on Sunday at 1
p.m. for their final regular season home match of the season.
The Hartford Hawks volleyball team (6-21, 0-8
America East) split a pair of matches last week. The Hawks opened the week with
a three-set win over Providence College (25-18, 18-26, 30-28) in the final non-conference
match of the season. The then dropped a three-set (15-25, 21-25, 16-25) match
to Binghamton in
the only conference action of the week. For the week, the Hawks were led by Erin Macro (Lincoln,
RI) who finished with 17 kills and a
.146 attack percentage (10 errors, 48 total attacks). She was one of four
players to record double digit kills for the week. Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ)
finished the week with 16 kills, Maddison
Molyneux (Caledon, Ontario)
added 14 and Lindsay Makowicki (Norwich,
CT) rounds out the list with 11
kills. Lindsay Ford (Carson,
NV) led the Hawks with 51 assists,
while also posting a .286 attack percentage with six kills, two errors in 14
total attacks. Defensively, Hartford was led by Danielle Etta (Cold
Spring, NY) with 23 digs.
She was followed by Bettina WoodmanFairfield,
CT) who finished with 18 digs, including a
career-high 14 in the win over Providence.
Rounding out the double digit digs list was Sarah Boss with 15, Fullagar with 11 and Ford with 10. Hartford
will close out the home portion of the schedule with a pair of conference
matches this week, the first against Maine on
Friday at 7:00 p.m., the second against New
Hampshire on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
Maine (11-12, 4-5 America East) earned a one-match lead over New
Hampshire for the fourth and final playoff spot with a 1-1 record over the
weekend... On Friday night they took down visiting UMBC in five sets (25-21,
25-23, 14-25, 20-25, 18-16)... After taking the first two sets, the Black Bears
stumbled in sets three and four... A pivotal block by Amy Lawson (Coeur D’Alene,
Idaho) mid-way through the fifth set shifted the momentum back to Maine...
Deadlocked at 14-14, the teams exchanged service errors until Lindsay Allman
(St. Louis, Mo.) broke the tie with a powerful kill that put the Black Bears up
17-16 and forced an attack error by the Retrievers for the win... Allman finished
with 16 kills, 14 digs and two served aces... Lawson had seven kills and three
total blocks... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ont.) dished out 42 assists and 14
digs... Brittany Kiehl (Virginia Beach, Va.) added 10 kills and two block
assists... Ashlee Wright (Muncie, Ind.) had a team-high 19 digs... On Sunday the
Black Bears fell in three sets to Albany (22-25, 15-25, 21-25)... After a closely
fought first set, Albany was able to pull away from Maine in the next two to
earn the win... Allman supplied eight kills and a team-high 16 digs... Amanda
Armstrong (Waukesha, Wisc.) added seven kills... Wolfenden had 24 assists and
nine digs... Wright dug 13 balls... Maine will hit the road next weekend as they
travel to Hartford on Friday, November 7, for a 7 pm match and then Stony Brook
on Sunday, November 9, to play at 1 pm... They will then come home on Friday,
November 14, for their final regular season match-up that will likely have
major play-off implications for the Black Bears.
UMBC (16-10, 5-4
America East) split a pair of matches last week in conference action, losing a
heartbreaker at Maine, 3-2, Friday night before bouncing back with a 3-1
victory at New Hampshire on Sunday... Freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep
Run) earned consecutive double-doubles with 12 kills and 15 digs against Maine
on Friday and led the team with 12 kills and four service aces while adding 18
digs in a win over New Hampshire on Sunday. Lang now has nine double-doubles on
the season, most on the team... Junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield,
Calif./Liberty) posted a team season-high 19 kills in the win over the
Wildcats. Oscars is now 10 shy of seventh place in school history with 978
career kills... Sophomore Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) led
the team with 11 total blocks and now is in a tie for ninth all-time with 205
career total blocks... Freshman Iman Kennedy (Charlotte, N.C./Independence) had
her best match of her young career against UNH, hitting .450 with 11 kills and
only two errors, while earning three assisted blocks... Two milestones were set
Friday night as junior Sarah Ball (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Sisler) became
the 11th Retriever in history to hit 800 kills and junior Pam Jarrett (Lincoln,
Neb./Lincoln Pius X) earned her 800th career dig... The Retrievers only have one
match this upcoming week, at Binghamton Friday night at 6 p.m.
New Hampshire (6-19, 3-6 America East) went 0-2 on the week
dropping a pair of home matches to UMBC and top-ranked Albany... On Friday
night against the Great Danes, the Wildcats were led offensively by Lindsay
Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Pauline Acres (Manhattan Beach,
Calif./Mira Costa) with seven and six kills, respectively; Acres was also
credited with two blocks... Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) was spelled briefly by Sara Heldman
(Greenwood, Ind./ Center Grove) in the third set and tallied 19 assists as the
primary setter; she was also credited with 12 digs... Alyse Lahti (Pepper Pike,
Ohio/Orange) recorded a match-high 15 digs... The Wildcats lost in four to UMBC
on Sunday afternoon... In that match, Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop
Carroll) had a season-high 21 kills and added 10 digs... In addition to Bates,
Fogarty had a season-best 18 kills and hit at a .371 clip... Lauren Laquerre
(Concord, N.H./Concord) Acres had six and five kills,
respectively, while Justine Elliott (Mitchellville, Md./St. John's College HS)
added three kills and five blocks... Uitti recorded a team-best 51 assists, the
most by any Wildcat in a four-set match this season... With just three matches
left, the Wildcats will need to turnaround their fortunes if they hope to
return to the America East Championship for the second- consecutive year... The
Wildcats hit the road this weekend against Stony Brook (Friday - 7 p.m.) and
Hartford (Sunday - 4 p.m.) a pair of teams the Wildcats already have wins over
in league play.
Stony Brook (11-15,
2-6 America East) lost its only match of the week to Binghamton, 3-0 (26-24, 25-18,
25-20)....Senior Gulce Nazli Dikecligil totaled a team-high eight kills while
sophomore Alicia Nelson added seven... Junior Michelle Burrola led the Seawolves
with an average of 3.67 digs per set and senior Jessica Graham had three
blocks... Stony Brook will host its final two home matches of the season this
coming weekend, starting with a match against New Hampshire on Friday night.