CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Binghamton's Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew), UMBC's Naomi Bush (Fruitport, Mich./Fruitport) and Albany's Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) are recipients of the first America East weekly awards since the conference schedule got underway last week. McDonough, Bush and Stanley, all repeat winners, earned the awards for the week ending October 4.
McDonough, a junior outside hitter, helped lead Binghamton to a 2-0 record last week with 4.71 kills per set and a team-leading 3.14 digs per set. McDonough led the league last week with 5.36 points per set, while also hitting at a .244 clip. In the Bearcats' America East opening 3-1 win over New Hampshire, she accumulated 19 kills, 15 digs, three blocks and two aces while hitting .273. Earlier in the week, McDonough also had 14 kills, seven digs and two blocks in a 3-0 sweep of defending MAAC-champion Siena. She ranked second in the league in kills, ninth in digs and 10th in hitting percentage last week. This is McDonough's second weekly award of the season.
Bush led the Retrievers in hitting percentage (.290) in two victories over Towson and Hartford last week. She finished with 2.88 kills and .88 blocks per set, while ranking 10th in the league for the week with 3.38 points per set. The rookie's hitting percentage during the past week also ranked fifth in the conference. Against the Hawks, the Michigan native hit an outstanding .476 with 10 kills and no errors on 21 swings, while adding five total blocks. Against Towson earlier in the week, she was second on the team with 13 kills. Bush, who leads all America East rookies in kills and points per set, has now earned the Rookie of the Week honor three times this season.
Stanley continued her strong quarterbacking of the UAlbany offense en route to an undefeated week and her second Setter of the Week award this season. In two matches last week, Stanley averaged a league-best 12.14 assists per set as well as 3.14 digs and 1.00 kills. She recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 34 assists and 13 digs in the 3-0 sweep of New Hampshire on Sunday. In a 3-1 non-conference win over Colgate, Stanley finished with 51 assists, nine digs and one kill. The defending America East Setter of the Year award-winner leads the conference with 10.26 assists per set in 2009.
For the third straight week, a senior reached a major career milestone as UMBC setter Kira Giles reached 3,000 career assists. It is the second time in the last three weeks that an America East player reached that mark, with Giles' helping to produce a 3-1 victory over Hartford on Sunday.
The only action scheduled this week are four conference matches this weekend. On Friday night, Hartford will host Albany and UMBC will host New Hampshire, while the Hawks remain home to host Binghamton on Sunday. Stony Brook will entertain New Hampshire also on Sunday.
Team Notebooks:
UAlbany (10-8 overall record, 1-0 America East record) went undefeated for
the week with a 3-1 non-conference win over Colgate on Wednesday and a 3-0 win
over New Hampshire
to kick off the America East Conference slate on Sunday... Sophomore middle
hitter Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) averaged 3.29 kills and
1.42 blocks per set in the two matches... She recorded 13 kills with a .444
hitting percentage, to go along with six total blocks against Colgate, and
followed up with a team-best 10 kills, hitting .500, with four blocks against
New Hampshire... Junior Setter of the Week Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville,
N.C./West Henderson)
averaged 12.14 assists in the two matches, along with 3.14 digs and 1.00 kills...
She recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 34 assists and 13 digs
against New Hampshire
and finished with 51 assists, nine digs and one kill versus Colgate... Senior outside
hitter Valerie Sourbeer (Valley Center, Calif./Valley Center) averaged 3.14
kills in the two matches, while sophomore outside hitter Kalyn Mostert (Nepean,
Ontario/Marivale) added 2.14 kills, 4.00 digs and 0.86 blocks per set, to go
along with three service aces... Libero Laurie Gonzalez (Carolina, Puerto Rico/St. Francis School) led
the team with 6.14 digs per set, while also producing three service aces... The
Great Danes will return to action on Friday, visiting Hartford in America East action at 6 p.m.
Binghamton
(9-8, 1-0 AE) won its fifth-straight America East opener when it defeated New
Hampshire 3-1 in Durham on Friday ... Earlier in the week the Bearcats also swept
Siena, 3-0... Player of the Week, junior hitter Michelle McDonough (Orland Hills, Ill./Andrew) posted
4.71 kills per set and a team-leading 3.14 digs per set... McDonough accumulated
19 kills, 15 digs, three blocks and two aces while hitting .273 versus New
Hampshire... She also had 14 kills, seven digs and two blocks against Siena...
Junior Anna Lejina (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary/Univ. of Latvia) also had a
solid hitting week, averaging 4.43 kills while hitting a team-high .256... Lejina
had 15 kills against Siena and 16 kills and 10 digs versus New Hampshire...
Junior setter Lindsey Mueller (West Bend, Wis./West Bend West) dished out 10.86
assists, scooped 2.43 digs and snuck in four aces on the week... Against New
Hampshire in a four-set win, Mueller had 40 assists, 10 digs and two aces...
Earlier in the week against Siena, Mueller tallied 36 assists, seven digs and
two aces... Freshman middle Alex Roland (Austin, Texas/Austin) had a team-high
11 blocks (1.14 bps) and also had 11 kills on the week... Binghamton outhit
their opponents .183 to .092 and outblocked them 16 to 8... Binghamton will play
one match this week, at Hartford on Sunday afternoon.
The Hartford volleyball team (6-12,
0-2 AE) finished a three-match week winless with three-set losses at
Central Connecticut and then at home against Stony Brook in the America East
opener... The Hawks then dropped a four-set match to the UMBC Retrievers in the
week's finale... For the week, freshman Kami
Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) and senior Erin Macro (Lincoln, R.I./Lincoln) led
the team, each finishing with 27 kills over the three matches ... Nethersole led
the Hawks in hitting with a .211 attack percentage wit 11 errors in 76 total
attempts ... Macro finished with 23 errors on the week in 82 total attempts ... Also recording double figures in hitting for the week was Michelle Cordell (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) and Lindsay Ford (Carson, Nev./Carson) with 18 and 10, respectively...
Ford finished the week with 76 assists to lead the team, while Maddison Molyneux (Caledon,
Ontario/Mayfield Secondary) finished with a team best 29 digs for the week... The Hawks finished with six players in double figures defensively as the
balance for the loss of starting libero Danielle
Etta (Cold Spring, N.Y./Haldane) who is out with an injury ... The Hawks play
just two matches this week, both at home and both in conference play ... They
first host the Albany Great Danes on Friday at 6 p.m. and then welcome the
Binghamton Bearcats on Sunday at 1 p.m.
UMBC
(9-7, 1-0 AE) finished the past week with a 2-0 record, defeating Towson,
3-1, on Tuesday night before besting Hartford, 3-1, Sunday afternoon to open
its 2009 America East slate... Alyssa Lang (Richmond,
Va./Deep Run) led the Retrievers with 38 kills
in wins over Towson and Hartford this past week. In the America East
opener for UMBC vs. the Hawks, Lang hit a game-high 16 kills, while adding 11
digs. Against the Tigers, the Richmond,
Va. native hit a UMBC season-high
22 kills on 50 swings and added 13 digs... In the match against Towson, senior
Pam Jarrett (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Pius X) earned 16 digs, moving her into
eighth all-time at UMBC with 1,078 for her career... In the same match, senior
Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Glenlawn)
earned 44 assists, eight digs and four total blocks on the day, giving her
3,001 assists for her career. Her 3,000th gave UMBC a 22-20 lead in the fourth
set... The Retrievers have just one game this coming week, hosting New Hampshire at the
RAC, Friday at 7 p.m.
University of New Hampshire (8-11, 0-2 AE) dropped
a pair of America East matches to Binghamton (3-1) and Albany (3-0) during the
week... Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll)
registered 28 kills in two matches over the weekend, she now has 936 career
kills and is just 64 away from 1,000 for her career... Lindsay Fogarty
(Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Bates each recorded 14
kills in the America East opener against Binghamton Friday night at Lundholm
Gymnasium...The set scores were 20-25, 25-10, 25-21 and 25-22... Bates also added a
match-best 19 digs and two service aces... Pauline Acres
(Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa) chipped in with eight kills, 10 digs and a
block... Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) dished out a
team-best 38 assists, while defensively Sara Heldman
(Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) and Uitti registered 10 digs... Bates
tallied a team-high 14 kills in a 3-0 loss to Albany Sunday afternoon... Set
scores were 25-23, 25-23 and 25-14... In addition to Bates, Fogarty
tallied 12 kills and added three blocks... Uitti dished out 29
assists and added nine digs... Heldman notched 22 digs, while Jayde
Huxtable (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) added 12...UNH returns
to action when it travels to UMBC Friday, Oct. 9 (7 p.m.)... New Hampshire's next
home match is Sat. Oct. 17; start time at Lundholm Gymnasium is 4 p.m. and
tickets are available at the Whittemore Center Box Office, online at www.unhwildcats.com or by
calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000.
Stony
Brook (9-8, 1-0 AE) continued its winning ways by sweeping both of its matches last week... The Seawolves started things off with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-15,
25-12) win over Long Island... Senior Lisa
Doremus paced the offensive attack with 13 kills and a .423 hitting percentage,
while junior Jeanette Gibbs picked up 19 digs... In its first America East match
of the season, SBU wasted little time in defeating Hartford, 3-0 (25-9, 26-24, 25-15)... Senior
Harmonie Calinda and junior Ashley Headen both recorded doubles-doubles...
Calinda had ten kills and 18 digs and Headen recorded ten kills and a
career-high ten blocks... Stony Brook has just one match this week, as they
return home for the first time in over a month to face New Hampshire.
America East: Developing Champions in Academics, Athletics and Leadership