CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Albany sophomore Sara Pope earned her second-straight America
East Player of the Week honor, helping the Great Danes to two more victories
last week to remain undefeated in conference play. Hartford's Jackie Tamburri
earned Setter of the Week and New Hampshire's Tori Forrest was named Rookie of
the Week for the week ending Oct. 14, the conference office announced Monday.
Pope (Jenks, Ohio) continued her strong hitting for the
Great Danes, leading UAlbany to a 2-0 week in conference play, and keeping the
Great Danes at the top of the standings as the only undefeated squad in the
league. Pope finished the week with 38 kills (5.42 kps) as she set a new career
high with 24 in a four-set win over New Hampshire on Friday, before pacing
UAlbany to a sweep of ProvIdence with 14 kills on Sunday. Pope's strong hitting
led the Great Danes, as she hit at a .467 clip on Friday and .321 on Sunday.
She also came up with four digs in the two matches. Pope led the conference in
kills per set at 5.43, and ranked second in hitting percentage at .411.
Tamburri's (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.) leadership in running
the offense led the Hawks to back-to-back victories over Providence (3-0) and
New Hampshire (3-2), the latter of which was the first victory over the
Wildcats in the last 32 meetings. She opened the week averaging 10 assists over
the three sets against Providence, leading the team to a .252 hitting average
with just 13 errors on the night. She also added three kills, without hitting
an error, and seven digs against the Friars. In Saturday's upset of the
Wildcats, Tamburri averaged 11.8 assists en route to her season high 59 assists.
She also completed her team-leading 13th double-double with a career-high 26
digs. For the week, Tamburri was third in the conference with a11.12 assists
per set, second in aces at 0.62 per set and fifth in digs at 4.12 per set.
Forrest (Powder Springs, Ga.) continued her impressive
rookie campaign this past week with a pair of double-doubles in back-to-back
road matches. Forrest led the Wildcats with 16 kills and a .279 hitting
percentage in a loss against the Great Danes, before racking up 11 kills and 14
digs at Hartford for her third double-double of the season. She has now posted
double-digit kills in six straight matches and 14 overall this fall.
Notes
Albany has won 49
of its last 52 America East matches... Hartford's win over New Hampshire on Saturday
was its first against the Wildcats since 1996, breaking a 32-match losing
streak in the all-time series... Stony Brook has been led by standout freshman
Melissa Rigo, who continues to lead the conference with 4.30 kills per set. The
last time a freshman led the conference in kills per set was Maine's Leah Voss
in 2000.
2012
America East Volleyball Weekly Award Winners
Aug.
27 - Player of the Week: Melissa Rigo (Stony Brook); Setter
of the Week: Taylor Dunklau (New Hampshire); Rookie of the Week: Melissa Rigo
(Stony Brook)
Sept.
4 - Player of the Week: Sareeta Nethersole (Hartford); Setter
of the Week: Taylor Dunklau (New Hampshire); Rookie of the Week: Melissa Rigo
(Stony Brook)
Sept.
10 - Player of the Week: Morgan Thatcher (New Hampshire);
Setter of the Week: Taylor Dunklau (New Hampshire); Rookie of the Week: Melissa
Rigo (Stony Brook)
Sept. 17 - Player of the Week: Sherelle Walker
(UMBC); Setter of the Week: Mallory McIntyre (UMBC); Rookie of the Week:
Sherelle Walker (UMBC)
Sept. 24 - Player of the Week: Morgan Thatcher
(New Hampshire); Setter of the Week: Amanda Dettmann (Binghamton); Rookie of
the Week: Brenna Buckwalter (New Hampshire)
Oct. 1 - Player of the Week: Morgan Thatcher
(New Hampshire); Setter of the Week: Jansan Falcusan (New Hampshire); Rookie of
the Week: Sherelle Walker (UMBC)
Oct. 8 - Player of the Week: Sara Pope
(Albany); Setter of the Week: Gabby Whitworth (Albany); Rookie of the Week:
Melissa Rigo (Stony Brook)
Oct. 15 - Player of the Week: Sara Pope
(Albany); Setter of the Week: Jackie Tamburri (Hartford); Rookie of the Week:
Tori Forrest (New Hampshire)