CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- After a 4-1 week, a pair of UMBC Retrievers picks up America East weekly awards. UMBC freshman outside hitter Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) repeats as Rookie of the week, while senior setter Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wis./Kenosha Tremper) earns the Setter of the Week honor. Stony Brook sophomore middle blocker Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md./Oxon Hill) has picked up where she left off after winning the 2010 Rookie of the Year, capturing her first career Player of the Week nod.
Slaughter was named to the All-Tournament Team at Stony Brook's own Holiday Inn Express Tournament. The middle blocker averaged 3.92 points per set as well as 3.58 kills per set. Slaughter hit an impressive .435 on the weekend and recorded seven total blocks while leading the Seawolves to their first win of the season. She opened the weekend with a blistering .533 hitting clip with nine kills against Kent State. In a 3-1 victory over Iona on Saturday, Slaughter tallied 16 kills on .375 hitting. She closed out the week with a career-high 18 kills on .433 hitting with six blocks to help Stony Brook force a fifth set against Rhode Island and nearly pull off a comeback after going down 0-2. The 2010 Rookie of the Year, Slaughter is already among league leaders in hitting percentage, kills and points in 2011.
Schmidt led the Retrievers to a 4-1 record last week and swipes the Rookie of the Week award for the second straight week to open her collegiate career. The freshman paced all UMBC hitters with 3.75 kills per set and finished the week with 4.28 points per set. She added 22 digs, nine blocks and three aces for the week. Schmidt's top performance of the week came in a 3-1 come-from-behind victory against UC Riverside on Monday where she punched 14 kills to go along with seven digs, four blocks and an ace.
Spaay quarterbacked the Retrievers to .255 team hitting and four wins in five tries last week. She averaged 10.00 assists and 2.19 digs per set while tallying eight aces and eight blocks in 16 sets. Spaay totaled 44 assists and three blocks in a 3-1 win over UC Riverside out on the West Coast, and returned back to the Mid-Atlantic to tally a double-double of 37 assists and 14 digs in a sweep of Coppin State on Friday. In the week's finale on Saturday, the senior recorded another 30-plus assist effort with 36 helpers, seven digs, two aces and two blocks in a 3-0 victory over Morgan State. Spaay currently leads America East with 9.56 assists per set this season.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (0-6 overall, 0-0 in America East) dropped three matches in Colorado in regular-season play, and defeated the Slovenian National Team in an exhibition match at Colorado... Freshman Sara Pope (Jenks, Okla./Jenks) led the Great Danes in the regular-season matches, averaging 3.80 kills per set... Casey Wright (Ballston Spa, N.Y./Ballston Spa) added 2.90 kills and 0.80 blocks in the three matches, recording a team-high .343 hitting percentage... Setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) continued her strong play, tallying a double-double of 50 assists and 16 digs against Colorado, while averaging 10.20 assists and 2.80 digs per set in the three matches... Laurie Gonzalez (Carolina, Puerto Rico/St. Francis School) averaged a team-high 4.60 digs per set over the weekend, and also notched two of Albany's eight service aces... The Great Danes will continue tournament play over the weekend, as they participate in Fordham's Rose Hill Classic with Maryland, Colorado and the host Rams.
Binghamton (2-6, 0-0 AE) played four matches last week coming away with a .500 record... The Bearcats began the week by dropping their home opener to defending MAAC champion Niagara in straight sets... Freshman setter Amanda Dettmann (Divine Savior Holy Angels) led the Bearcats with 22 assists, with ten going to junior hitter Iva Partaleva (Kyustendil, Bulgaria/Seminole St. College (Okla.). Binghamton then traveled to Storrs last Friday for the UConn Toyota Classic... In the first match of the tournament Binghamton notched its first victory of the season in a sweep of MEAC member Howard... In day two of the tournament the Bearcats split a pair of matches, beating Holy Cross in four sets Saturday morning... After an eight-hour wait, Binghamton took the floor against the host Huskies, dropping the match in straight sets... Following a 11.42 assists per set performance over the weekend, Dettmann was named to the All-Tournament Team. Joining Dettmann was sophomore middle Grace Vickers (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) who averaged 3.8 kills per set and tallied six total blocks and five service aces... Up next for Binghamton is another four-match week, first hosting Siena Wed. Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. then heading to New Brunswick, N.J. to play in the Rutgers Invitational. The Bearcats face the host Scarlet Knights, Princeton, and Howard.
The Hawks (2-5, 0-0 AE) suffered a four-loss week, including three at the Sacred Heart Invitational... The Hawks opened the week with a five-set loss to Marist in the 2011 home opener at the Reich Family Pavilion. The Hawks trailed by a 0-2 deficit but forced a fifth set before falling 3-2 to the Red Foxes... The Hawks then traveled to Fairfield, Conn. for the Sacred Heart Invitational where they dropped a five-set match to Rutgers on the first day and lost to the host Pioneers (3-0) and Brown (3-1) on the final day... Junior Kami Nethersole (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) led the Hawks with 61 total kills on the week, finishing with double figure kills in all four matches, including a week-best of 18 in the home opener against Marist. She also put up double-figured digs in the losses to Marist and Rutgers... Senior Michelle Cordell (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) finished second on the team with 34 kills, while rookie Sareeta Nethersole (Cortland Manor, N.Y./Hendrick on Hudson) finished just behind her with 33... Rookie Jackie Tamburri (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hendrick Hudson) continues to lead the Hawks; offense as she finished the four-match week with 143 assists, and put up three double-doubles with 55 total digs, including a career-high 22 against Rutgers... The Hawks will play a five-match week as they welcome Holy Cross for a single match on Wednesday night before hosting Navy, Delaware State, La Salle and Quinnipiac in the Hartford/Quinnipiac Invitational.
UMBC (5-3, 0-0 AE) went 4-1 this week, coming from behind against UC Riverside before winning three-of-four at the Battle of Baltimore... Sophomore Hallie Carter (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) led the team with 55 digs (3.44 dps) and was second on the squad with 45 kills (2.81 kps) and a .288 hitting percentage... Freshman Hannah Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) led the team with 60 kills (3.75 kps)... For the season, junior Katie Kelly (Diamond Bar, Calif./Diamond Bar) leads the team with a .361 hitting percentage, while Schmidt paces the squad with the 3.56 kps... The Retrievers return to action Tuesday night when they face Navy at 6 p.m. before hosting the annual Madison Bingaman Memorial Tournament this weekend.
The University of New Hampshire volleyball team (0-7, 0-0 AE) dropped all three of its matches at the University of Pittsburgh Invitational over the weekend... The Wildcats took the host Panthers to four sets but fell by a 3-1 decision... Senior Amy Keding (Northbrook, Ill.) led the team with 10 kills and hit at a .330 clip, while junior Jansan Falcusan (Plymouth, Mich.) chipped in with 15 assists. Junior Jessie Schnepp (East Longmeadow, Mass.) added a team-high 19 digs... UNH also took Miami (Ohio) to four sets in a 3-1 loss... Keding was again the top offensive threat for the Wildcats, recording a match-high 22 kills for a .425 hitting clip... Falcusan registered a team-high 29 assists... UNH then fell to No. 2 Penn State in straight sets... Junior Desiree Ates (Regina, Saskatchewan) paced the team with seven kills... Following the final match, Keding was named to the all-tournament team... UNH will visit Northeastern on Tuesday at 7 p.m... The Wildcats will host the Holly Young Invitational next weekend, taking on Indiana State on Friday (7 p.m.), before playing Fairfield (12:30 p.m.) and UConn (7 p.m.) on Saturday.
The Providence College volleyball team (2-6, 0-0 AE) dropped the final four matches in its season-opening eight-match road trip…PC dropped a five-set heartbreaker at Holy Cross on Wednesday, August 31… Senior MB Lauren Fletcher (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) led the Friars with 15 kills and seven blocks…Freshman Colleen McCollom (Indian Head Park, Ill./Nazareth Academy) added 10 kills and nine digs…The Friars were then swept by Memphis, San Francisco and Columbia at the USF asics/Powerade Challenge in San Francisco, Calif… Junior libero Cassie Muzzonigro (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine Richland) earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team while picking up 34 digs on the weekend… Fletcher led the Friar offense, picking up 35 kills (2.50 per set), while McCollom added 23 kills (1.64 per set) and 29 digs (2.07 per set)… The Friars open the home portion of the schedule this Wednesday when they host cross-town rival Brown. They continue at home over the weekend for the eighth annual Friar Classic. PC will face St. Francis (N.Y.), Coppin State and Lafayette as it looks to defend the Friar Classic title… The weekend could see a few milestones. Fletcher is just 75 kills shy of becoming the ninth player in PC history with 1,000 in a career, while Muzzongiro is just 47 digs shy of 1,000 for her career.
Stony Brook (1-5, 0-0 AE) hosted the Holiday Inn Express tournament over the weekend and went 1-2... SBU picked up its first win of the season on Saturday against Iona with a four-set victory... Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) tallied a match-high 19 kills while sophomore Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) added 16 kills on a .375 hitting percentage... The Seawolves then rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Rhode Island to send the match to a fifth set before falling, 3-2... Slaughter recorded a career-high 18 kills on a .433 hitting percentage. She also added a career-best six block assists... Slaughter and Nelson each were named to the All-Tournament Team... Freshman Laura Hathaway (Warsaw, N.Y.) was named Co-Defensive Player of the Tournament as she totaled 48 digs in the tournament... The Seawolves return to action this weekend, traveling to take part in the CCSU Invitational.