CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- New Hampshire junior right-side hitter Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) garnered the America East volleyball player of the week for the period ending September 14. UMBC's Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) and Albany's Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) each repeated as rookie and setter of the week, respectively. View full weekly release in PDF.
Bates had 56 kills (3.5 kps) last week, including 20 kills against Rhode Island, a single-match high this year in America East. In a 3-0 win over Bryant Tuesday night, Bates hit at a .438 clip and had eight kills compared to just one error. Bates was named to the all-tournament team at the Holly Young Invitational hosted by the Wildcats. She also posted 14 kills against both Evansville and Seton Hall. Bates had three double-doubles in each of the three games of the invitational with 10-plus digs in all three contests. Overall, Bates hit at a .236 clip, tallied 42 digs (2.63 dps) and posted 13 blocks. She leads the conference with 3.64 kills per set.
Lang runs her hold on the rookie award to three weeks now. She recorded 40 kills (3.08 kps) last week, helping the Retrievers go undefeated at the NJIT Highlanders Challenge and being named to the all-tournament team. The Virginia native hit seven kills against no errors in a very close loss to BIG EAST team Villanova Tuesday night. Against Loyola on Saturday, Lang earned 13 kills against only two errors in the win. She finished the week third on the team with 31 digs (2.38 dps). Lang continues to lead all rookies in the conference with just a shade under 3.0 kills per set (2.98 kps).
Stanley repeats this week with this award, finishing with 10.55 assists per set to lead America East. The sophomore also added 2.45 digs per set, 0.45 aces per set and 10 kills at a .348 clip at the University of Kentucky Tournament over the weekend. Stanley recorded 30 assists along with seven digs, three kills and three service aces in a 3-0 sweep of Eastern Kentucky on Friday. She recorded a double-double with 48 assists and 11 digs against Indiana and was one dig short of her second straight double-double with 38 assists and nine digs, along with six kills and a service ace in the tournament finale against Kentucky. The setter is averaging 10.27 assists per set and 2.17 digs per set this season.
Two powerhouses highlight this week's non-conference volleyball schedule. New Hampshire will travel to play in a tournament hosted by defending national champion, #1 Penn State, while Hartford will face #6 USC of the Pac-10 Conference during tournament play at West Point.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (4-5 overall, 0-0 America East) competed at the University of Kentucky Tournament over the weekend...
The Great Danes opened with a 3-0 sweep of Eastern Kentucky before falling to Indiana and the host
Wildcats by scores of 3-1... Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal
Leger) led the team, averaging 3.64 kills and 2.64 digs... She recorded a
double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs against Indiana... Freshman outside hitter Kalyn
Mostert (Nepean, Ontario/Marivale) continued her strong play
for the Great Danes over the weekend, averaging 1.45 kills, 2.27 digs and 0.45
blocks per set... She recorded eight kills and four digs against Indiana, followed by a seven-kill, 13-dig performance
against Kentucky...
Mostert currently leads the team with ten service aces... Sophomore setter Brooke
Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 10.55
assists to go along with 2.45 digs and 0.45 service aces in the three matches...
She recorded a double-double with 48 assists and 11 digs against Indiana... Stanley was one dig short of her second-straight
double-double with 38 assists and nine digs, along with six kills in the
tournament finale against Kentucky...
She hit a team-high .545 against the Wildcats... Junior outside hitter Valerie
Sourbeer (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) leads the Great Danes
on the season, averaging 3.41 kills per game... UAlbany will travel to Michigan over the
weekend to compete at the Michigan/adidas Invitational... The Great Danes will
take on Arizona State
on Friday before facing the host Wolverines and Western
Kentucky on Saturday.
Binghamton
(3-7, 0-0 America East) went 0-4 last week, losing 2-3
to Syracuse and then dropping three matches at Virginia's Marriot Jefferson Cup
to Virginia, VCU and Appalachian St. ...
The Bearcats held a 2-0 advantage over the Orange
but let their opponents win the final three sets ... In the match, sophomore
Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew)
had 16 kills and hit at a .323 clip. Senior Brianna Strong (Elkhart,
Ind./Concord)
tallied 11 kills and 18 digs and sophomore setter Lindsey Mueller (West Bend
Wis./West Bend West) racked up 46 assists and 10 digs ... The Bearcats went 0-3
at Virginia's Marriot Jefferson Cup. The squad lost to Virginia 0-3, VCU 2-3 and
Appalachian St. 1-3 ...Ashley Allen (Mill Creek, Wash./HM Jackson)
was named to the all-tournament team for the Bearcats. The senior posted 2.50
kills per set while hitting at a .247 percentage (30-12-73) and also came up
with 10 blocks on the weekend ... The Bearcats will be looking to halt their
current four-game losing streak against Colgate in their home opener of the
2008 season on Tuesday. Later this weekend, the squad will travel to Ohio to compete against Bowling Green, Hofstra and Rice at the
Bowling Green/Best Western Invitational.
The Hartford volleyball team (3-6 overall) split a pair of
matches at La Salle University this weekend, winning a four-set match over the
host Explorers (25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16) and dropping a three-set decision
to the Iona Gaels (25-21, 25-15, 25-19) ... prior to the two matches at La
Salle, the Hawks defeated the Quinnipiac Bobcats in four sets to open the home
portion of the 2008 schedule ... against the Bobcats, Hartford was led by Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ/Mountain
View), who finished with 15 kills, a season best ... for the weekend, the Hawks
were led by Erin Macro (Lincoln,
Ri/Lincoln) who finished with 25 kills and a .375 attack percentage, recording
only four errors in 56 total attacks ... Maddison
Molyneux (Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) finished just behind her
with 24 kills ... Macro led the team in the opening match, finishing with nine
kills, while Molyneux posted a career-high 19 kills in the nightcap against La
Salle ... Macro finished just behind her against the Explorers, finishing with
16 kills and a .419 attack percentage, both season bests for the junior ...
sophomore Lindsay Ford (Carson,
NV/Carson) led the Hawks offense as the primary setter, finishing with 59 total
assists, including 43 against La Salle ... defensively, the Hawks were led by Sarah Boss (Fremont, NH/Pinkerton
Academy) who finished with 34 digs ... Macro, Michelle Cordell (Orlando, FL/Edgewater) and Ford combined to lead
the team on the block, all finishing with six total blocks between the two
matches ... the Hawks will play one mid-week tune-up at Marist on Tuesday night
at 7:00 p.m., before heading to Army for a two-day West Point Classic featuring
the Black Knights, Dartmouth and the fifth ranked USC Trojans.
After
starting the season 4-3, Maine (5-5, 0-0 America East) stumbled against their
first two opponents before returning to form in their final match at the
University of Buffalo Ramada Invitational...The Black Bears lost 3-0 to Butler on
Friday night by scores of 25-27, 23-25, 23-25... Margaret Page (Winnetka, Ill.)
led Maine with 11 kills and six block assists as the team finished with three
players reaching double-digit kills... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa, Ontario) had 29
assists while commanding a Maine offense that narrowly lost each set... The Black
Bears fell again Saturday afternoon to Maryland Eastern Shore in three sets,
22-25, 24-26, 24-26... Amy Lawson (Coeur D’Alene, Idaho) led Maine with 11 kills
and a .588 attack percentage... Wolfenden had 32 assists, 10 digs and six kills
as one of three Black Bears with double-digit digs... Lindsay Allman (St. Louis,
Mo.) led Maine with 15 digs and Laura Goettsch (Woodstock, Ontario) had 10
kills and 13 digs... In the weekend finale Maine defeated the University of
Buffalo in four sets, 25-14, 25-20, 15-25, 25-22... Lawson led the team with 11
kills and a .500 attack percentage... Allman had 10 kills, 12 digs and three
served aces... Wolfenden set-up the Maine attack with 35 assists and three served
aces... Ashlee Wright (Muncie, Ind.) led the team with 16 digs... Maine ended the
weekend 1-2 as Allman was named to the All-Tournament team, she finished with
26 kills, 38 digs and five served aces... The Black Bears will take part in the
University of Connecticut Toyota Classic this weekend, taking on Temple
University at 5 p.m. on Friday night.
UMBC (8-3, 0-0
America East) finished the week 3-1, including winning all three matches at the
NJIT Highlander Challenge in Newark, N.J. over the weekend. The Retrievers lost
a close straight-set match to Villanova Tuesday before defeating NJIT and
Loyola in straight sets and Sacred Heart, 3-1... Junior Sarah Ball (Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada/Sisler) and freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) were
named to the All-Tournament team. Ball led the team with a .385 hitting
percentage over the week, while Lang was second on the team with 3.08 kills per
set... Junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) recorded two double-doubles
over the weekend, including an 11-kill, 17-dig performance against NJIT Friday
night... Freshman setter Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wisc./Kenosha Tremper) earned her
first collegiate double-double in her first start against Loyola Saturday with
34 assists and 10 digs... Junior Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Glenlawn)
recorded her fifth double-double of the season against Sacred Heart with 40
assists and 10 digs... Sophomore middle blocker Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis,
Mo./Ursuline Academy continued her dominance in the middle, adding 15 more
assisted blocks and now has 42 (1.05 bps) for the season. The Retrievers travel
to Morgantown, W.Va. Sept. 19-20 to play in the WVU Volleyball Classic, where
they will face George Washington, UNC-Greensboro and host West Virginia.
New Hampshire (2-8, 0-0 America East) went 2-2 during the
week as they finally returned to the friendly confines of Lundholm Gymnasium...
The Wildcats opened the week with a convincing 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-11) win
over Bryant... Junior Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) and
freshman Christie Dorch (Friendswood, Texas/Friendswood) each recorded eight
kills in the winning performance... In addition to Bates and Dorch, Lindsay
Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Justine Elliott (Mitchelleville,
Md./St. John's College) tallied five blocks each, setter Kate Uitti (Pinckney,
Mich./Pinckney) had a match-high 27 assists, while Alyse Lahti (Pepper Pike,
Ohio/Orange) added 12 digs... The Wildcats continued play at home with the
recently renamed Holly Young Invitational... The tournament, which is a
long-standing tradition at UNH, was renamed this off-season to honor the memory
of Holly Young. In January, Young, a former member of the volleyball program,
lost her battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer... UNH opened
the tournament with a hard-fought, 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 15-11),
loss to Rhode Island... In the loss, Bates tallied a match-best 20 kills... UNH
concluded play with a split on Saturday. The Wildcats dropped match one 3-1
(28-26, 25-23, 23-25 and 29-27), to Evansville, while they defeated
tournament champion Seton Hall in the tournament’s finale, 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 20-25 and 25-19)... The Pirates captured the title at the
invitational with a 2-1 record and wins over Evansville and Rhode Island...
Bates was named to the Holly Young All-Tournament team for the
third-consecutive weekend... She had 20 kills in the opening on Friday night
and 14 apiece in Saturday’s matches... The Wildcats return to action on
Tuesday, Sept. 16 at in-state foe Dartmouth College... Match time is set for 7
p.m.
Stony Brook (4-6, 0-0) went 2-2 this week,
with both wins coming against the Manhattan Jaspers....The Seawolves hosted their
home-opener this week, beating Manhattan 3-1(25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18)...Senior
Gulce Nazli Dikecligil led Stony Brook in that match with 16 kills and 13
digs...the Seawolves beat Manhattan again three days later, 3-0 (25-10, 25-11,
25-8), in their first match of the Rose Hill Classic...Stony Brook dropped it’s
next two matches to Princeton, 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14), and Fordham,
3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23), however, finishing the tournament with a 1-2
record...both Dikecligil and sophomore Ashley Headen were named to the
all-tournament team...Dikecligil tallied 32 kills over the weekend with a .265
attack percentage, she served 11 aces and added 25 digs...Headen recorded 20
kills and an impressive 15 total blocks (3bs, 12ba).