CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- UMBC freshman outside hitter Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Virginia/Deep Run) has begun the season with four straight America East volleyball rookie of the week awards after once again receiving the honor for the week ending September 21. Stony Brook University outside hitter Gulce Nazli Dikecligil (Istanbul, Turkey) garnered player of the week for the second time this season, while Binghamton University's Lindsey Mueller (West Bend, Wis./West Bend West) received her first recognition of the season as the conference's setter of the week. View complete weekly release in PDF.
Dikecligil led
the Seawolves to a 2-2 record last week with 61 kills (3.39 kps). The senior added 15 aces, 41 digs (2.28 dps) and five total blocks.
She recorded a double-double (24 kills, 16 digs) in a 3-2 victory over
Bryant and her second double-double in a five set loss to Long Island (12 kills, 10 digs).
Was one dig short of a double-double against Brown (20 kills, 9 digs). Dikecligil's 24 kills and 16 digs against Bryant were both season highs. The 24 kills were an America East single match high this season.
Lang was second on the Retrievers last week with 23 kills (2.56 kps) and led all freshmen in the league in that category. The rookie put up more digs (45 total, 5.00 dps) than any other player in America East last week as she helped lead UMBC to its first win over George Washington in 17 matches between the two schools. On her way to being named to the West Virginia Volleyball Classic all-tournament team, Lang also collected five service aces. She recorded her fourth double-double of the season in the win over George Washington, earning 10 kills and 16 digs.
Mueller led the conference in assists last week, totaling 153 assists for 10.93 aps, while also averaging 2.64 digs per set and 0.64 blocks per set. The sophomore posted two double-doubles on the week. Against Hofstra, she tallied 49 assists and 11 digs, while recording 31 assists and 13 digs against Bowling Green. The 49 assists against Hofstra was Mueller's season high, while she also contributed four blocks in the match against the Pride. She led the Bearcats in assists, ranked second in digs and fourth on the squad in blocks for the week.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (5-7 overall record, 0-0 America East) competed at the Michigan/adidas
Invitational over the weekend... The Great Danes dropped a 3-2 decision to Arizona State
and a 3-0 loss to #25 Michigan before
defeating Western Kentucky, 3-2, in the
weekend finale... Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal
Leger) averaged 3.31 kills and 1.92 digs per set to lead the Great Danes... She
recorded a team-high 19 kills against Arizona
State and finished with ten kills
against Michigan and 14 versus Western Kentucky... Sophomore Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 8.85 assists, 2.08 digs
and 0.54 service aces per set over the weekend... She recorded double-doubles
against Arizona State
(45 assists, 12 digs) and Western Kentucky (40
assists, 11 digs)... Stanley
is averaging 9.84 assists on the season and leads the team with 15 service
aces... Senior middle blocker Kamisha Kellam (Forestville, Md./Bishop
McNamara) averaged 2.38 kills and 0.85 blocks per set over the weekend... She
recorded ten kills, while hitting .364, along with six total blocks, against
Western Kentucky and added 13 kills and four blocks against Arizona State...
Kellam is averaging a team-best 0.91 blocks on the season... The Great Danes will
host the second of two home tournaments over the weekend, welcoming Yale, Long
Island and Dayton
for the UAlbany Invitational... Former UAlbany head coach Kelly Sheffield will
return to University Gym to coach the Dayton Flyers against the Great Danes on
Saturday evening in the tournament finale.
Binghamton (4-10, 0-0) posted a 1-2 record at
the BGSU/Best Western Invitational this past weekend after dropping their home
opener to Colgate, 3-1. The Bearcats defeated Hofstra, 3-1 but were also swept by
Rice and Bowling Green...Sophomore
Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/University of Latvia)
crushed 22 kills and posted a .375 hitting percentage
(22-4-48) and also contributed two blocks. Senior Ashley Allen (Mill
Creek, Wash./HM Jackson) was productive on offense as
well, putting up eight kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Senior Jaclyn Strader (Kettering,
Ohio/Julienne Catholic) tallied a
season-high 19 digs in the match to go along with four total service aces.
Setter of the week sophomore Lindsey Mueller (West Bend Wis./West Bend West) recorded her sixth double-double of the season, giving out
a season-high 49 assists to go along with 11 digs and four blocks. Sophomore Michelle
McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) posted her first double-double of the season,
finishing the match with 14 kills and 12 digs. Lejina also had impressive kill
totals against Rice (15) and Colgate (14), while also receiving all-tournament
honors at the BGSU/Best Western Invitational. The Bearcats will play two
non-conference opponents this week as they gear up for America East play. First
they will travel to Siena
to play a Time Warner televised game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and will then host
Robert Morris at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
at the weekend tournament.
The
Hartford volleyball team (3-10, 0-0) dropped all four matches it played last
week. The first was a five-set loss (25-16, 23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 13-15), the
first of the season, at Marist on Tuesday night. The Hawks then traveled to Army
for the West Point Classic dropping three-set matches to Army (14-25, 11-25,
17-25), #5 USC (10-25, 11-25, 18-25) and Dartmouth (22-25, 15-25, 16-25). For
the week, the Hawks were led by Erin
Macro (Lincoln, RI/Lincoln) who finished with 30 kills. She also sported a
.169 attack percentage (17 errors, 77 total attacks). Lindsay Ford (Carson, NV/Carson) led
the Hawks in hitting percentage and assists. She finished the week with seven
kills, four errors in 16 total attacks for a .188 attack percentage and finished
the week with 80 assists, averaging 5.71 per set. Macro also led the Hawks in
blocking with 10 total blocks, three solo and seven assists. Also hitting well
for the week was Maddison Molyneux
(Caledon, Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) and Hallie Fullagar (Mesa, AZ/Mountain
View) both connecting on 25 kills. The Hawks will return home for just their
second home match of the season when they host Sacred Heart on Tuesday night at
6:00 p.m. The Hawks will then travel to Quinnipiac for the Bobcats Invitational
on Friday and Saturday, joining Coppin State and NJIT in Hamden,
Conn.
Maine
(6-7, 0-0) battled their way to a 1-2 finish, but despite the
losing record, the Black Bears now have two more wins than all of last season... Against Temple (6-6), Maine fell
in four sets by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 20-25 and 18-25... Laura Goettsch
(Woodstock, Ontario) led the Black Bears with 11 kills and five digs... Ashlee
Wright (Muncie, Ind.) had a team-high 10 digs... Jessica Wolfenden (Ottawa,
Ontario) had 34 assists, six digs and four block assists... Maine’s defense
played tough as they amassed 10 total team blocks, four of which were solo...
Against the tournament host and eventual winner Connecticut (9-4), Maine took
them to five sets to get the win by scores of 23-25, 25-20, 25-16, 21-25 and
15-13... In the match, the Black Bears had 72 total digs, their best in the
tournament, led by Goettsch with 21... Lindsay Allman (St. Louis, Mo.) led Maine
in kills with 15, while also having 18 digs and four assists... Wolfenden had 44
assists, 11 digs and eight kills... The Black Bears had a .252 team attack percentage,
their best in the tournament... The defense held UConn to a .119 attack
percentage and handed them their only loss in their tournament... In their final
match against Cornell (1-5), Maine fell in five sets by scores of 23-25, 25-20,
23-25, 25-15 and 9-15... Goettsch led the team with 13 kills and 13 assists...
Allman had a team-high 17 digs and nine kills... Wolfenden had 47 assists and
seven digs... The Black Bears had 13 served aces, their weekend-high... Four Maine
players finished with double-digit digs... Allman was named to the All-Tournament
team, totaling 33 kills and 39 digs... The Black Bears return home to take on
Husson College (5-3) at 7 p.m. on Friday.
UMBC (9-5, 0-0) finished 1-2 in the WVU Volleyball Classic this past
weekend in Morgantown, W. Va. The Retrievers defeated George Washington
for the first time in 17 matches between the schools, 3-0, before
dropping close straight-set matches to West Virginia and
UNC-Greensboro... Rookie of the week Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) led the
Retrievers with 45 digs and five service aces and was second on the
team with 23 kills for the week. She was named to the All-Tournament
team for her efforts... Junior Ashley Oscars led UMBC with 26 kills while
sophomore Bridget Scheetz led the team with 12 assisted blocks... The 12
assisted blocks recorded by Scheetz moved her into sixth place all-time
at UMBC with 166 for her career... The Retrievers return home Tuesday to
host James Madison at 7 p.m. before traveling to Morgan State Thursday
at 7 p.m.
New
Hampshire (3-11, 0-0) went 1-3 on the week, capturing its first
road win of the season at in-state foe Dartmouth on Tuesday night and went 0-3
against some of the nation’s volleyball elite over the weekend at the Penn
State Classic... On Tuesday night, Lindsay Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) had a team-high 10 kills including the final
two points of the match and added four blocks as the Wildcats captured a 3-0
win over Dartmouth College... The set scores were 25-20, 25-23 and 28-26... In
addition to Fogarty offensively, Justine Elliott (Mitchellville, Md./St. John’s College) had nine kills, three blocks and a .438
hitting percentage, while Laura Yegge (Redlands,
Calif./Redlands) and Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H./Concord)
each added six kills. Sophomore setter Sara Heldman (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) had a 32 assists, while defensively Alyse
Lahti (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) had 15 digs... UNH knew it would have
its hands full when it headed into the Penn State Classic... The tournament
feature three teams with a combined record of 24-6, including defending
national champion and top-ranked Penn State... The Wildcats opened with
Atlantic-10 foe St. Louis, a team that just recently upset Stanford... UNH kept
it close throughout including taking the third set 25-23 before losing 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16)... Kirsten Bates (Calgary,
Alberta/Bishop Carroll) registered a team-high 14 kills and added 12 digs to
lead the Wildcat offense... UNH played the host Nittany Lions in the first match
of day two and lost in three sets (25-10, 25-14, 25-15)... Bates led the Wildcat attack with
eight kills, while Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich.) had a
team-high 13 assists... In the second match of the day, Yale won in three sets...
The sets scores were 25-19, 25-18 and 25-17... Several players contributed to a
well-balanced Wildcat offense. Laquerre had a team-high eight
kills, Fogarty and Pauline Acres (Manhattan
Beach, Calif./Mira Costa) each had seven kills, while Bates add six digs... Lahti
led the way defensively for UNH with 12 digs and was named to the
All-Tournament team for her solid overall performance throughout the weekend,
while Heldman had a team-high 21 assists... UNH returns to
action on Tuesday, Sept. 23 against Northeastern. Match time is 7 p.m. at
Lundholm Gymnasium.
Stony Brook (6-8, 0-0) went 2-2 this week and
posted a 2-1 record at the Brown Invitational over the weekend...The Seawolves suffered
back-to-back five-set losses to Long Island and Brown before closing the week
out with two straight wins over Bryant and Quinnipiac...Sophomore Alicia Nelson
had her best offensive week of the season, leading the team with 65
kills...Fellow sophomore Ashley Headen was also productive offensively, totaling
43 kills with a .432 attack percentage...Headen was solid on defensive as
always as well, finishing the week with 16 total blocks...Both Nelson and Headen
were named to the Brown Invitational All-Tournament team...Player of the week senior Gulce Nazli
Dikecligil continued her impressive season, registering two double-doubles and
notched season-highs in kills (24) and digs (16) in a five-set win over
Bryant...Freshman setter Kelsey Sullivan had another impressive week, averaging
10.2 assists per set, including a week-high 54 against Bryant...The Seawolves
will travel to St. John’s on Tuesday before hosting the Stony Brook
Invitational this weekend, which Xavier, Brown and St. Francis (PA) will
attend.