CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- The second half of the America East volleyball slate began last week, and a pair of senior standouts are still powering their squads towards the top of the America East standings. Stony Brook University senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) receives her third Player of the Week award of the season with another dominant performance, while University at Albany senior Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) earns the Setter of the Week accolade for the fifth time. University of Hartford freshman setter Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson/Hendrick Hudson) also takes home an award, the Rookie of the Week honor, as she closes in on a season milestone.
Nelson led the league last week with 5.00 kills and 5.30 points per set and led the Seawolves back from a 2-1 deficit in their only match to defeat UMBC 3-2. In addition to another outstanding offensive performance, the senior also played well on the defensive side of the ball with 3.80 digs per set.
Nelson finished with her 11th double-double of the year with a 25-kill, 19-dig performance. She also added an ace, an assist, one block assist and a .250 hitting percentage.
Nelson improved upon her league-leading season totals and now stands with 4.32 kills and 4.82 points per set along with 32 service aces.
Stanley quarterbacked Albany to two three-set sweeps last week. She led the team to a .356 hitting percentage in the two matches and played a large role in five Great Danes finishing the week with hitting percentages north of .300. She averaged 12.33 assists per set to lead America East while also adding 1.50 digs and 1.17 kills per set.
In a non-conference match at Colgate, Stanley finished with 38 assists, four kills, four digs and an ace while the team hit .360. She rounded out the week against Binghamton on Sunday with 36 assists, three kills, five digs, two blocks -- including one solo-- and an ace.
Stanley paces the conference with 11.03 assists per set this year while Albany leads the league with a team hitting percentage of .232.
Tamburri finished the only match of the week for the Hawks with 11.20 assists and 2.80 digs per set. Against first-place New Hampshire, the rookie setter completed her 16th double-double of the season with 56 assists and 14 digs along with one kill in the five-set match.
Tamburri is just 23 assists shy of 1,000 this season and ranks second in America East with 10.07 assists per set. She also ranks ninth in the league with 2.94 digs per set.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (13-8 overall, 6-1 America East) swept Colgate on the road in non-league action before posting a 3-0 win over Binghamton in America East play on Sunday... Senior middle blocker Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) averaged 4.17 kills on .449 hitting in the two matches... The next closest kill producer was junior Dunja Prgomet (Rovinj, Croatia) who averaged 2.83 kills, along with 2.83 digs per set... Freshman Samantha Brostrom (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) averaged 2.33 kills and 3.67 digs per set in the two matches. She recorded 11 digs in both, while also serving up three aces and hitting .310... Senior setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 12.33 assists, quarterbacking the team to a .356 hitting percentage. She also produced 1.50 digs, 1.17 kills, two service aces and two blocks, including one solo against Binghamton... Senior libero Laurie Gonzalez (Carolina, Puerto Rico/St. Francis School) averaged 6.00 digs and served up five aces in the two matches. Gonzalez, who has 1,894 career digs, is just ten away from breaking the Albany career digs mark, set by Ashley DeNeal '06... Albany will host two conference games this week, welcoming UMBC to University Gymnasium on Friday and Stony Brook on Sunday.
Binghamton University (10-15, 2-5 AE) dropped both its matches last week, falling in straight sets to non-conference opponent Syracuse and then first-place Albany... The Bearcats rounded out their non-conference schedule with a meeting with the Orange. Syracuse defeated Binghamton for the 11th consecutive time since elevating to the Division I level... The Bearcats tried to bounced back against Albany, but could not stop a potent offense that tallied a .352 hitting clip... Following the week's action, Binghamton now has four hitters with at least 200 kills... Alex Roland (Austin, Tex./Austin) has 215, Kristin Hovie (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) also with 215, while Grace Vickers (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Iva Partaleva (Kyustendil, Bulgaria/Seminole St. College) each have 208... Sophomore libero Xiomara Ortiz (South Setuaket, N.Y./Ward Melville) eclipsed the 400 digs mark for the second straight season, the first Binghamton player to do so since Jaclyn Strader in 2006-07... The Bearcats host Stony Brook on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. and UMBC on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.
The Hawks (11-13, 2-5 AE) finished last week with a five-set loss in their only action of the week, falling on the road at New Hampshire. Junior outside hitter Kami Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) led the Hawks with her second straight match of 20-plus kills, finishing with 22 to lead all players... Joining her in smacking double-figure kills was Michelle Cordell (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) with 14 and Sareeta Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) with 11... Freshman setter Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) finished with her fifth 50-plus assists match of the season with 56 total, and is now 23 shy of becoming just the third player since the start of rally scoring to record 1,000 or more assists in a single season. She was also one of five players to finish in double figures in digs with 14, with [Sareeta] Nethersole leading the team with 15... The Hawks will close out the non-conference portion of their scheduled with a mid-week match-up against Central Connecticut on Wednesday (7 p.m.) before returning home for the home regular season finale against Providence. Prior to the Providence match (Friday at 6 p.m.) the Hawks will honor their four seniors - Lindsay Makowicki, Danielle Etta, Michelle Cordell and Sydney Scott.
UMBC (12-10, 2-5 AE) fell to Stony Brook 3-2, it’s only match of the week, for the second time this season... Senior Iman Kennedy (Charlotte, N.C./Independence) led UMBC in hitting, finishing the match with a team-high 17 kills... Freshman Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) was the only other Retriever with double-digit kills, with 10... Senior setter Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wis./Kenosha Tremper) recorded her 11th double-double of the season recording 47 assists and picking up 13 digs. Spaay is second in school history with a total of 2,018 career assists… In addition to Spaay, sophomores Hallie Carter (Huntington Beach, Calif/Edison) and Emily Vandegrift (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) each registered double-digit digs picking up 13 and 14, respectively… The Retrievers have the week off before heading to New York for two weekend contests, first against Albany on Friday starting at 7 p.m., then traveling to play Binghamton on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m.
UNH (7-16, 6-1 AE) earned a 3-2 victory over Hartford in the team's lone game this week... Sophomore Morgan Thatcher (Brockton, Mass.) led the team with 18 kills while four players posted double-double performances. Senior Jessy Dick (Lethbridge, Alberta) posted 11 kills and a match-high 10 blocks while hitting at a .588 clip. Senior Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H.) racked up 17 kills and 13 digs along with four blocks, while fellow senior Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill.) totaled 15 kills, 10 digs and four rejections. Junior Jansan Falcusan (Plymouth, Mich.) posted a team-high 58 assists to go along with 14 digs, while freshman Sam Henke (Millersville, Md.) recorded a team-best 17 digs... As a team, the Wildcats posted a .249 hitting percentage, second best by the club this season... The Wildcats have two matches on the week, first traveling to Holy Cross for a non-conference match on Oct. 26 before playing host to Providence on Oct. 30 at 2 p.m.
Providence (7-17, 1-5 AE) played just one match on the week and snapped the team's second longest losing streak of the season with a 3-1 victory over Bryant... Senior Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) led the Friars with 11 kills and eight blocks. She recorded a .240 hitting percentage... Freshman Colleen McCollum (Indian Head Park, Ill./Nazareth Academy) was an offensive and defensive asset for the Friars. She recorded nine kills and registered a hitting percentage of .250. She also finished the game second on the team with 15 digs... Senior setter Caroly Morrison (Larkspur, Calif./Redwood) led the way for the Friar offense recording 40 of Providence's 49 assists. She also registered a team-best .308 hitting percentage with five kills on 13 attempts, with just one hitting error. Morrison also tallied three service aces and recorded seven digs on the defensive side of the net....Providence will play back-to-back road games against Hartford and New Hampshire this coming weekend, and finish the remainder of its season with four-straight home games. Of the remaining six games, the Friars have a rematch with Hartford, which marks the only America East victory this season for PC.
The Seawolves (12-9, 5-2 AE) won in five sets over UMBC in their only match of the week... SBU has now won four straight and five of its last six... It was SBU's 10th five-set match of the season. Stony Brook is 7-3 in five-set matches... Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) had 25 kills and 19 digs for her 11th double-double of the season... Stony Brook finished with 11.0 blocks led by sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) who had a career-high nine block assists... Senior Kelsey Sullivan (Hamilton, Va.) added six block assists .. Stony Brook is now 5-2 in conference play, its best record after seven games since going 6-1 in 2007... Stony Brook now hits the road for matches against Binghamton and Albany next weekend.