CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A trio of student-athletes who will participate in the upcoming conference tournament garnered the final America East weekly awards of the 2011 volleyball season. New Hampshire senior outside hitter Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) received Player of the Week recognition, Stony Brook freshman libero Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y./Warsaw) took home Rookie of the Week honors, and UMBC senior setter Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wis./Kenosha Tremper) earned her second straight Setter of the Week nod.
Keding paced the Wildcats in a pair of matches last weekend, leading the conference with 4.75 kills per set. The senior also averaged 5.06 points and 2.75 digs per set while adding two aces, two assists and a block.
In a five-set thriller at first-place Albany, Keding tallied 23 kills and 14 digs with two assists, a block and an ace to finish with her 11th double-double of the season. She followed up that performance with a match-high 15 kills in the regular-season finale at Binghamton, a three-set win. Keding hit .281 with eight digs and an ace for the match.
The senior has 3.32 kills per set this season, including 3.88 kills per set against America East opponents.
Hathaway led the Seawolves defensively in a win at Providence Friday night, locking up the three seed for Stony Brook in the upcoming America East Championship. The freshman finished with a match-high 14 digs in the three-set sweep for a league-leading 4.7 digs per set average last week.
Hathaway anchored the back line which held the Friars to just .098 hitting for the match. She also served up four aces for an average of 1.33 aces per set to lead the conference over the weekend.
The rookie closed out the regular season fourth in the league with 4.09 digs per set and third with 4.19 digs per set in conference play.
Spaay set a personal best of 67 assists in the final regular season match of her career, leading the Retrievers to a victory and the final playoff spot.
The senior setter averaged 13.40 assists per set in the five-set win over Providence on Sunday and quarterbacked the offense to a team hitting percentage of .330. She completed her 14th double-double of the season with 10 digs and added two aces, a block and a kill.
After back-to-back impressive weeks, Spaay raised her season average to 9.42 assists per set and has her team hitting .218 for the season.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (19-8, 11-1 AE) sealed up its fourth straight America East Conference regular season title with a 3-2 win over New Hampshire on Friday, before posting a three-set sweep over Hartford on Sunday... Senior Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) averaged 3.00 kills and 0.50 blocks per set, while posting a .396 hitting percentage in the two matches. She recorded 14 kills on .355 hitting in a five-set win over New Hampshire, before posting 10 kills on .471 hitting in a three-set sweep against Hartford... Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 9.88 assists and 3.38 digs per set in two wins over the weekend. She also recorded three service aces... Dunja Prgomet (Rovinj, Croatia) led the team with 3.25 kills on the week... Traci Vandegrift (Mogodore, Ohio/Field) recorded seven total blocks, including four solo... Albany will play UMBC in the first round of the America East Championship on Friday.
Binghamton University (13-17, 5-7 AE) finished its season with a weekend split, defeating Hartford in five sets then falling to New Hampshire in straight sets... Binghamton's playoff hopes were dashed after losing to the Wildcats on Senior Day... The Bearcats will miss the America East tournament for the first time since 2003... Against Hartford junior middle Alex Roland (Austin, Tex./Austin High) recorded a career-high 23 kills as the Bearcats outlasted the Hawks in a back-and-forth five-setter... Freshman setter Amanda Dettmann (Milwaukee, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels) registered her sixth 50-assist match versus Hartford, giving her over 1,000 on the year... Prior to Binghamton's three-set defeat to New Hampshire, the volleyball program honored its two seniors, Julie Chambers (Nichols, N.Y./Tioga) and Jen Fiorentino (Commack, N.Y./Happauge)... The Bearcats return 12 letterwinners to their 2012 squad.
The Hawks (12-18, 3-9 AE) dropped their final two regular season games... In the opening match, the Hawks dropped a five-set match to Binghamton. The highlight of the match came from junior Kami Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hebdrick Hudson) who slammed a team-best 16 kills and in the process passed the century mark for hitting, currently with 1,004 career kills... The Hawks then closed out the regular season with a three-set loss to Albany, led by Sareeta Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) who finished with 13 kills, which leaves her tied with Michelle Cordell (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) for the second-most on the team this season... [Sareeta] Nethersole joined her classmate, Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson), in setting a single-season school record as she finished the season wtih 376 digs, taking over the top spot on the list compiled since the start of rally scoring in 2002... Tamburri's record came in the assists column as she compiled 1,217 for the season, passing Danielle Scoggin's previous mark for the lead spot since the start of rally scoring... Sophomore Lindsay Anderson (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) also joined the ranks of season record setters, smashing the previous mark for block assists with 79 total on the year.
On the final day of the season, UMBC (16-11, 6-6 AE) outlasted Providence on the road to pick up a 3-2 victory and secure a spot in the America East Championship… In one of the most difficult spots of the year, seniors Iman Kennedy (Charlotte, N.C./Independence) and Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wis./Kenosha Tremper) led the Retrievers to victory with career-high efforts… Kennedy recorded 21 kills in the match while Spaay picked up her 14th double-double of the season with 67 assists and 10 digs… Freshman Dalton Tolliver (Ortonville, Mich/Notre Dame Prep) continued her strong rookie campaign with 18 kills. She now has notched double-digit kills in nine of her last 11 contests… Classmate Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) also had a strong day, finishing with 13 kills… The Retrievers had a good defensive day as well with sophomores Ali Goc (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada/R.S. McLaughlin Collegiate) and Hallie Carter (Huntington Beach, Calif/Edison) both in double figures for digs with 19 and 17 respectively… UMBC now heads north to take on regular-season champion and tournament host Albany in the America East Championship on Friday at 7 p.m.
UNH (10-19, 8-4 AE) split a pair of road matches on the week, first dropping a five setter to Albany before sweeping Binghamton in the regular-season finale... Against Albany, senior Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill.) racked up a match-high 23 kills and added 14 digs for the double-double performance, while senior Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H.) and sophomore Morgan Thatcher (Brockton, Mass.) both reached double-digit kills with 15 and 10, respectively. Junior Jansan Falcusan (Plymouth, Mich.) also notched a double-double with 43 assists and 10 digs. Defensively, freshman Sam Henke (Millersville, Md.) registered a career-best 27 digs while junior Jessie Schnepp (East Longmeadow, Mass.) added 10 digs... Against Binghamton, the Wildcats recorded a .320 hitting percentage, the second-best single-match mark by the team this season, as well as an impressive .364 attack percentage in the first set. Keding posted a match-high 15 kills and added eight digs, while Thatcher recorded 11 kills and hit at a .360 clip. Freshman Taylor Dunklau (Mukowonago, Wis.) led all players with 35 assists, finishing with nine digs and four service aces... UNH finished with a conference record of 8-4, three more than the year before, to earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
The Friars (8-22, 2-10 AE) finished the 2011 season with two home losses, 3-0 to Stony Brook on Friday and 3-2 to UMBC on Sunday... Against the Seawolves, the Friars were led by senior Lauren Hendel (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.) who had a team-high nine kills. She also added five digs... Sophomore Anne Powers (La Selva Beach, Calif.) had 12 digs in the loss.... In the five-set thriller against the Retrievers, it was senior Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) competing in her final collegiate match who completed the day with 20 kills and five blocks. Kelly Ashmore (St. Louis, Mo.) and Hendel finished with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Senior Carly Morrison (Larkspur, Calif.) registered 45 assists and 11 digs.
Stony Brook (14-12, 7-5 AE) swept Providence in its regular season finale on Friday, clinching a winning season with the victory... SBU will be the No. 3 seed in next weekend's America East tournament... Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) hit .344 and had a match-high 14 kills... Senior Kelsey Sullivan (Hamilton, Va.) orchestrated the offense, dishing out 27 assists... Stony Brook hit .300 in the final set... Stony Brook had 13 service aces for the match. Nelson and freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) had four aces each and sophomore Hailee Herc (Eden, N.Y.) had three... Hathaway led Stony Brook with 14 digs... Sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) had nine kills and junior Greta Strenger (Woodburry, Minn.) chipped in with eight... Stony Brook held Providence to an .098 attack percentage and no Friar had more than nine kills.