CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A pair of former high school teammates teamed up at University of Hartford with good results--including two of the volleyball season's first America East weekly awards. Hawk junior outside hitter Kami Nethersole (Cortland Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) led the Hartford attack in the squad's first two wins of the season and garnered Player of the Week honors, while teammate freshman Jackie Tamburri (Corton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) saw her first collegiate action as the Hawks' primary setter and took home the Setter of the Week award. UMBC rookie outside hitter Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) rounded out the awards as the Rookie of the Week after pacing the Retrievers against ranked opponents.
Nethersole paced the Hawks in all three matches at the Army Invitational, earning All-Tournament honors in West Point. The second-team all-conference recipient last year started the 2011 season with a strong offensive showing, leading America East with 4.73 kills and 5.14 points per set. She also added 3.00 digs per set, three aces and two blocks to her weekly resumé. Nethersole registered the first of her two double-doubles in the opening match against host Army, compiling 12 kills and 10 digs in the three-set loss. In a five-set win over Bryant, she ripped off 26 kills and 16 digs for her second straight double-double. Nethersole finished the weekend with a 14-kill, seven-dig and two-ace effort in a 3-0 win over UMKC.
Schmidt opened her collegiate career with strong performances against some of the strongest competition on the West Coast. The rookie averaged 3.22 kills per set, fourth in the league last week, and accumulated four aces (0.44 per set), five blocks (0.56 per set) and a .237 hitting percentage. Schmidt tallied nine kills, two digs, two blocks and one service ace at #22 Long Beach State. She recorded six kills, a dig and an ace against seventh-ranked Washington. Schmidt's best performance was in a three-set sweep of Prairie View A&M where she recorded 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, along with four digs, three blocks and two aces. After the first weekend of play, she is the Retrievers' top hitter.
Tamburri also made her collegiate debut last weekend, quarterbacking her team in tournament play. The freshman recorded two double-doubles from the setter position, leading the league with 11.18 assists per set and ranking ninth with 3.18 digs per set. Tamburri finished with 29 assists, 10 digs and two kills against 2009 Patriot League Champion Army. She tallied a career-high 63 assists in the Hawks' win over Bryant, adding 18 digs and two more kills, before finishing the weekend with 31 assists, seven digs and two kills against UMKC. The Hawks hit .204 with Tamburri as primary setter.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (0-3 overall, 0-0 AE) opened up the 2011 season at the Florida State Invitational, dropping three matches to Kentucky (3-1), #23 Tulsa (3-0) and Florida State (3-0)... Traci Vandegrift (Mogadore, Ohio/Field) led the team, averaging 3.00 kills and 3.86 digs per set... Senior Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) added 2.20 kills and a team-high 0.70 blocks per set in the three matches... Freshman Samantha Brostrom (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) played all 10 sets in her first weekend as a Great Dane, averaging 2.20 kills per set... Senior setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) returned to the court for the Great Danes, averaging 8.90 assists and 2.40 digs per set. Stanley also finished with eight kills, two block assists and two service aces in the three matches... Albany will travel to Colorado this weekend, taking on the Slovenian National Team in an exhibition match on Thursday, before taking on Nebraska, Colorado State and Colorado later in the weekend.
Binghamton University (0-4, 0-0 AE) dropped all four of its matches over the weekend at the Mizzou Tiger Invitational. The Bearcats opened the season against host Missouri and fell in straight sets... Freshman Kristin Hovie (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) led Binghamton with 11 kills, while classmate Amanda Dettmann (Milwaukee, Wisc./Divine Savior Holy Angels) also had a solid game with 20 assists in each of their first collegiate games... The Bearcats also fell to North Dakota State in straight sets, accumulating a hitting percentage of .000. Binghamton was unable to get any offensive momentum as the Bison out blocked the Bearcats, 10-0... On day two Binghamton was more competitive, but was still swept 3-0 by Idaho State. Hovie once again led the Bearcats with nine kills, getting some help from fellow freshman Annelot Nieuwenhuis (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) who also put away nine terminations... In its final match of the tournament Binghamton fell to Tulane, 3-0, playing its best match of the weekend. Hovie and Nieuwenhuis topped all Bearcats with eight kills apiece... Binghamton will host defending MAAC champion Niagara, Wednesday, August 31 at 7 p.m. Next weekend the Bearcats will travel to Storrs, Connecticut to play in the UConn Toyota Classic to compete against Howard, Holy Cross and host Connecticut.
The Hawks (2-1, 0-0 AE) opened the weekend with a 2-1 record over three matches at the season opening Army Invitational in West Point, N.Y... The Hawks opened the weekend with a three-set (20-25, 22-25, 21-25) loss to Army before defeating Bryant in five sets (25-16, 27-29, 25-19, 23-25, 17-15) and UMKC in three sets (25-17, 25-20, 25-19)... The Hawks were led by Kami Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) and Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson), who were both named to the All-Tournament team... Nethersole finished the weekend with 52 kills and a .222 hitting percentage over the three matches, while Tamburri compiled 123 total assists and was third on the team with 35 digs... Nethersole led the Hawks in kills in all three matches, including a weekend-best of 26, two shy of her career best, in a five-set win over Bryant. She finished the weekend with double-doubles in the first two matches with 12 kills and 10 digs against Army and 16 digs to go along with her weekend-high in kills against the Bulldogs... Tamburri set her career high in assists in the second match of the weekend with 63 in the win over Bryant. She also finished with double-doubles in the first two matches adding 10 digs in the opening match against Army and 18 in the five-set match against Bryant... The Hawks return to action on Wednesday when they welcome Marist to the Sports Center for the home opener, scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
UMBC (1-2, 0-0 AE) opened its 2011 season out in Long Beach, Calif. for the Mizuno Invitational... The Retrievers fell to No. 22 Long Beach State and No. 7 Washington before defeating Prairie View A&M, 3-0... Junior Katie Kelly (Diamond Bar, Calif./Diamond Bar) led the squad with a .407 hitting percentage and seven blocks, while Rookie of the Week Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) paced the team with 29 kills (3.22 kps) and four service aces... Senior Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wisc./Kenosha Tremper) was named to the All-Tournament team after earning 79 assists and four service aces... The Retrievers face off against UC Riverside on Monday afternoon before returning to Maryland to take part in the Battle of Baltimore on the campuses of Towson and Morgan State Friday and Saturday.
New Hampshire (0-4, 0-0 AE) opened the season with four matches at the West Virginia Invitational over the weekend, falling to host West Virginia, 21st-ranked Ohio State, Towson and Valparaiso... Senior Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H.) and sophomore Morgan Thatcher (Brockton, Mass.) were both named to the all-tournament team... Thatcher was the main offensive force for the Wildcats as she paced the team in kills in all four matches, averaging 2.54 kills per set... Laquerre totaled 22 kills and 12 blocks... Junior Jansan Falcusan (Plymouth, Mich.) recorded a double-double performance against West Virginia with 22 assists and 13 digs, and averaged 4.85 assists per set... Junior Jessie Schnepp (East Longmeadow, Mass.) paced the team defensively with 4.33 digs per set... Freshman setter Taylor Dunklau (Mukawonago, Wisc.) enjoyed an impressive rookie debut, reaching double-digit assists in two matches including 12 helpers against Valpo... The Wildcats return to action Sept. 2-3 when they compete in the Pittsburgh Invitational to take on host Pittsburgh, Miami (OH) and Penn State.
Providence College (2-2, 0-0 AE) fell to Canisius and Morgan State on the first day of the La Salle Invitational, before turning around for a 7 a.m. start against La Salle and then St. Peter's, both four-set victories, due to the threat of Hurricane Irene... Senior captain Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) led the way, notching 62 kills (3.65 per set) while hitting at a .460 clip. Fletcher was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts... Classmate and fellow captain Carly Morrison (Larkspur, Calif./Redwood) was solid running the offense, as she averaged 6.35 assists per set while adding 30 kills of her own. The setter posted a double-double in the win over La Salle (14 kills, 24 assists) before recording 39 assists in the win over the Peahens... The Friars also got a significant contribution from their six-member freshmen class. Rookie Colleen McCollom (Indian Head Park, Ill./Nazareth Academy) showed her versatility, recording a double-double in the St. Peter's match with 12 kills and 11 digs. After one weekend, McCollom is second on the team in both kills (1.82 per set) and digs (2.82 per set)... The Friars continue their eight-match road trip to open the season on Wednesday at Holy Cross, before traveling to San Francisco for matches with Memphis, San Francisco and Columbia, Sept. 2-3.
The Seawolves (0-3, 0-0 AE) dropped all three matches at the Temple Invitational over the weekend... In the opener against the host Owls, the Seawolves rallied from a two-set deficit to send the match to a fifth set. Stony Brook had three match points before Temple finally pulled out the match with an 18-16 victory... Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) had 19.0 points (18 kills and a career-high 21 digs). She was one of four Seawolves to reach double-figures in kills as junior Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.) and sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) each had 11 and sophomore Kaitlin Costello (Webster, N.Y.) added 10... There were 10 ties and four lead changes in the fifth set... Freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) had 21 digs in her first collegiate match... Nelson then recorded 21 kills and had 23.0 points in the four-set loss to Montana. She also hit .308... Nelson had 16 kills in the four-set loss to South Carolina on Saturday... The Seawolves hit .464 in the 25-19 second set victory... Stony Brook will host the Stony Brook Holiday Inn Express Tournament this weekend with Iona, Rhode Island and Kent State all participating.