CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Three different teams are represented in the final America East
volleyball weekly awards, the conference office announced Monday. Albany's Sara
Pope was named Player of the Week, with Stony Brook's Melissa Rigo earning
Rookie of the Week and Binghamton's Amanda Dettmann notching Setter of the Week
honors.
Pope (Jenks,
Okla.) helped Albany clinch its fifth-straight America East regular season
title, ranking second in the conference in kills per set (4.50) while finishing
seventh in hitting percentage (.330). On Friday against Providence, she
recorded 13 kills, tying for the team lead, hitting .265 for the match, also
adding two digs and one block. In the season finale at New Hampshire on Sunday,
Pope recorded a career high 23 kills on .370 hitting. She also tallied two digs
and one block assist. It is Pope's third Player of the Week honor this year.
Dettmann (Milwaukee,
Wis.) was named Setter of the Week for the second time this year, notching her
first career triple-double in a win over Stony Brook in the final match of the
season to clinch a spot in the America East Championship for the Bearcats. For the week, Dettmann ranked fourth in the
conference in assists per set (10.60) while helping Binghamton hit .242, good
for fourth in the conference. She finished the match with 53 assists, 14 digs
and 10 kills. She quarterbacked four hitters to at least 12 kills against
Stony Brook and recorded 50 or more assists for third time in last five
matches. She finished tied for the conference lead in assists per set, and
helped Binghamton win the America East hitting title by 14 points.
Rigo (East
Northport, N.Y.) earned America East Rookie of the Week for the seventh time
this season after ranking first in the conference with 6.11 kills per set in
two matches last week. She eclipsed six kills per set in each match,
posting 24 kills vs. UMBC in four sets and then setting a new career high with
31 kills vs. Binghamton in five sets. She became the first Seawolves player
Jackie Ahlers in 2007 to reach the 30 kills mark. In the fourth set vs. the
Bearcats, she incredibly saved three Binghamton match points with kills that
helped SBU win the set 30-28. On Friday vs. UMBC, she also had 13 digs to give
her 12 double-doubles for the season...Rigo finished the year first in America
East in kills per set at 4.52 and in conference games only has a conference
best 4.81 kills per set. She is the first rookie since Maine's Leah Voss in
2000 to lead the conference in kills per set.
Notes
Albany won its
fifth-straight America East title and eighth in the last nine years... The Great
Danes will host the 2012 America East Championship... Also qualifying were
Binghamton, UMBC and New Hampshire...Albany's loss to UMBC gave the Great Danes
back-to-back losses in America East matches for the first time since 2003 when
they lost two-straight matches to open the conference season to Northeastern
and New Hampshire(October 7 and 10, 2003).
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)
Oct. 22 - Player of the Week: Morgan Thatcher
(New Hampshire); Setter of the Week: Taylor Dunklau (New Hampshire); Rookie of
the Week: Tori Forrest (New Hampshire)
Oct. 29 - Player of the Week: Melissa Rigo
(Stony Brook); Setter of the Week: Nicole Vogel (Stony Brook); Rookie of the
Week: Melissa Rigo (Stony Brook)
Nov. 5 - Player of the Week: Evann Slaughter
(Stony Brook); Setter of the Week: Mallory McIntyre (UMBC); Rookie of the Week:
Melissa Rigo (Stony Brook)
Nov. 12 - Player of the Week: Sara Pope
(Albany); Setter of the Week: Amanda Dettmann (Binghamton); Rookie of the Week:
Melissa Rigo (Stony Brook)