CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- A pair of senior volleyball standouts earned weekly awards for the period ending September 18 as Providence College middle blocker Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) took home America East Player of the Week and University at Albany setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) received Setter of the Week honors. University of Hartford's Sareeta Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick-Hudson) rounded out the weekly awards as the Rookie of the Week recipient.
Fletcher earned all-tournament team honors at the Dartmouth Invitational after putting up impressive numbers and becoming the ninth player in program history to accumulate 1,000 career kills. The senior led all America East players last week in four different categories, including hitting percentage (.482), kills per set (4.60 kps), blocks per set (1.70 bps) and points per set (5.65 pps). Facing the host Big Green on Friday, Fletcher tallied 13 kills, three blocks and a .765 hitting percentage in three sets. In a three-set sweep of Delaware State the next day, she reached the 1,000-kill plateau with 17 kills on .607 hitting for the afternoon to go along with six blocks. Fletcher finished the week with a 16-kill, eight-block performance against Central Connecticut State.
Nethersole was a major player in Hartford's 3-1 week, completing two double-doubles of the kill-dig variety. The freshman utility hitter averaged 2.31 kills, 3.62 digs and 1.19 assists on the week. She also added 10 blocks, three aces and a .217 hitting clip. In the Hawks' five-set victory over Bryant midweek, Nethersole earned her first double-double of the week with 16 kills and 17 digs. She notched her second double-double in as many matches with a 17-kill, 22-dig performance in a five-set loss to Princeton. For the season, Nethersole paces the Hawks and ranks seventh in America East with 3.08 digs per set.
Stanley led the conference for the second-straight week with 10.73 assists per set. She also averaged 2.55 digs and 1.55 kills per set while leading the Great Danes to a .204 hitting percentage against high-profile competition. The highlight of Stanley's week was a 41-assist, 14-dig double-double at 25th-ranked Ohio State. She added five kills and a block against the Buckeyes. Earlier in the day in Columbus, Stanley totaled 40 assists, eight digs and eight kills in a 3-1 victory over Akron. She wrapped up the week by leading Albany to a .299 team hitting percentage with 37 assists, six digs and four kills in a sweep of Maryland.
America East Conference play gets underway this weekend with three matches. Standings leader UMBC welcomes Stony Brook to Baltimore Friday night at 6p., New Hampshire travels to Hartford Saturday afternoon at 4p., and Albany and Binghamton square-off in Vestal at 5p on Sunday.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (5-7 overall, 0-0 America East) went 2-1 at Ohio State's Sports Imports Classic, defeating Akron, 3-1, and sweeping Maryland, 3-0, while falling to #25 Ohio State, 3-1... Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) and Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) were named to the all-tournament team... Wright led the Great Danes, averaging 3.64 kills and 1.36 blocks on the weekend. Wright reached double-digit kill totals in two of the three matches, and finished off the weekend by putting up nine kills and nine total blocks against Maryland... Stanley quarterbacked the team to a .204 hitting percentage, averaging 10.70 assists, 2.55 digs and 1.55 kills in the three matches. Stanley recorded her third double-double of the season against Ohio State, totaling 41 assists and 14 digs... Freshman Samantha Brostrom (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial) averaged 3.57 kills and 2.29 digs per set in two matches played... Libero Laurie Gonzalez (Carolina, Puerto Rico/St. Francis School) averaged 6.36 digs per set over the weekend, including 36 digs in the opener against Akron... Albany will return to action on Wednesday, hosting Yale in the home opener, before kicking of America East Conference play at Binghamton on Sunday.
Binghamton University (7-9, 0-0 AE) went 1-3 last week at the Columbia Invitational, falling to the host Lions, Iowa and St. John's... The Bearcats' lone victory came in the form of a straight set sweep of St. Francis (NY)... Binghamton was dealt a pair of 3-0 defeats by Columbia and Iowa, and let a two-set lead slip away against St. John's... Junior outside hitter Iva Partaleva (Kyustendil, Bulgaria/Seminole St. College (Okla.) was named to the All-Tournament Team after totaling 52 kills over the weekend, 3.71 per set. Partaleva's best outings were against St. John's and St. Francis, knocking down 18 and 17 kills, respectively... Positioning Partaleva on most of her terminations was freshman setter Amanda Dettman (Milwaukee, Wis./Divine Savior Holy Angels) who handed out 130 assists during the four-match span, including a tournament-best 46 against St. John's... Binghamton heads to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. before hosting Albany in its conference opener Sunday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. in West Gym.
The Hawks (9-7, 0-0 AE) finished a four-match week with a 3-1 overall record, defeating Bryant, Lafayette and St. Francis-PA, the latter two at the Lehigh/Lafayette Cross Town Tourney... Junior outside hitter Kami Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) and freshman setter Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) scored All-Tournament honors for the third time as a pair and the fourth time overall this season for Nethersole... She finished the week with a team-best 67 kills, while her sister Sareeta Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) finished second on the team with 37 kills... Sareeta also led the Hawks defensively with 58 digs over the four-match week... Tamburrri led the Hawks to a .214 hitting percentage for the week, with Kami leading all hitters with a .301 average... Tamburri finished the week with 163 assists, bringing her season total to 607... The Hawks will play just one match in the coming week when they welcome the New Hampshire Wildcats to the Reich Family Pavilion on Saturday, September 24 for the 2011 America East Conference opener. The Hawks and Wildcats are set to tangle at 4 p.m.
UMBC improved to 10-5 on the season by taking two of three matches in the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West/Penn Invitational this weekend... The Retrievers won a 3-1 decision over Rhode Island, a 3-0 decision over William & Mary, before falling to the host Quakers, 3-1... Sophomore Halllie Carter (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) and classmate Ali Goc (Oshawa, Ont., Canada/R.S. McLaughlin) earned All-Tournament team honors.... Carter amassed a team-high 34 kills and 50 digs in the three matches... Goc pitched in with a team-best 55 digs... The Retrievers limited Rhode Island to a .045 hitting percentage and out blocked URI, 16.5-9, on their way to a 25-19, 25-17, 15-25, 25-18 win in the opener... In UMBC’s second match of the day, the Retrievers’ defense was again on display, holding William and Mary to a .021 hitting percentage in a 28-26, 25-14, 25-16 triumph... UMBC was 4-11 after 15 matches a season ago.
UNH (1-14, 0-0 AE) went 1-3 on the week, including 1-2 at the Yale/Quinnipiac Classic... Junior Jansan Falcusan (Plymouth, Mich.) was named to the all-tournament team... The Wildcats picked up their first win of the season with a 3-0 victory at Quinnipiac and took both Harvard and Army to five sets... Against Quinnipiac, senior Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill.) led the way offensively with 10 kills and 11 digs, while Falcusan recorded a match-high 31 assists... Falcusan posted a season-high 60 assists at Harvard, while Keding recorded 27 kills and 30 digs in the match... Senior Lauren Laquerre (Concord, N.H.) posted double-double performances against Harvard and Army to bring her season total to five, all in the past seven matches... The Wildcats return to action with two matches this week, playing host to Bryant before traveling to Hartford on Sept. 24 to open conference play.
The Providence College volleyball team (5-10, 0-0 AE) went 1-2 at the Dartmouth Invitational this week, their final in-season tournament of 2011…The Friars dropped their first match of the weekend to host Dartmouth in straight-sets… Senior MB Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) led the way with 13 kills and a .765 hitting percentage… Junior setter Carly Morrison (Larkspur, Calif./Redwood) recorded 21 assists, while junior libero Cassie Muzzonigro (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) added 16 digs…The next match against Delaware State saw a Friar win, as well as program history… In the straight-set victory, Fletcher became the ninth player in Providence history with 1,000 career kills. She finished the match with 17, while hitting .605 and adding six blocks… Morrison added nine kills, 33 assists and seven digs in the victory…The final match saw the Friars fall to Central Connecticut State in four sets… Fletcher again led the way with 16 kills, while adding eight blocks… Fellow senior Lauren Hendel (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y./St. Anthony’s) helped keep the Friars in it as well, contributing seven kills… Fletcher now stands at 1,019 kills for her career, becoming the first Friar since Elizabeth Flynn (’08) to reach the milestone. In addition, her current career hitting percentage of .297 ranks third in program history… The Friars have one match in the coming week, as they travel to the Bronx, N.Y., to face Manhattan on Wednesday, September 21. First serve against the Jaspers is set for 7 p.m.
The Seawolves (5-7, 0-0 AE) went 2-1 over the weekend at the Bucknell Invitational... SBU lost to Bowling Green and then won five-set matches on Saturday against Bucknell and Coppin State... Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) and freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) were each named to the All-tournament team... Nelson recorded 17 kills and 10 digs against Bucknell including her 1,000th career kill. She is the eighth player in program history to record 1,000 career kills... Hathaway had a career-best 26 digs against Bucknell... Stony Brook dropped the first two sets against Coppin State before rallying for the five-set win... The Seawolves return home on Wednesday to host Fordham before taking on UMBC in its conference opener on Friday.