DURHAM, N.H. — America East Co-Regular Season Champions, the University at Albany and the University of New Hampshire, took home four of the five conference major awards on Thursday night at the volleyball annual awards banquet in Durham, N.H., the site of this year’s America East Championship. Albany junior Laini Leindecker and New Hampshire junior Demi Muses became the first Co-Players of the Year in conference history. The Great Danes also took home Coaching Staff of the Year honors, while freshman Nicole Otero was named Defensive Specialist of the Year. For the Wildcats, Keelin Severtson was named Setter of the Year. UMBC freshman Makenzie Morgen was honored as Rookie of the Year.
The America East Volleyball All-Conference Teams and Major Award winners are voted on by the league’s seven head coaches, who are not permitted to vote for their own players. The 2015 America East Volleyball Championship will take place Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21 at the University of New Hampshire.
Coaching Staff of the Year: Albany (MJ Engstrom)
- Head coach MJ Engstrom earns her third Coaching Staff of the Year honor.
- The Great Danes captured a share of their 9th America East regular season title and 1st since 2012 with an 11-1 conference record.
- After finishing third in each of the last two seasons, Albany rebounded with its best conference mark since 2011.
- The Great Danes enter the America East championship on an 11-match winning streak dropping just six sets in that stretch.
Rookie of the Year: Makenzie Morgen, UMBC
- Morgen is the sixth Retriever to be named Rookie of the Year.
- She led all freshmen and ranked third in the conference, averaging 3.08 kills per set.
- Morgen was even better in conference play, posting 3.16 kills per set with a .257 hitting percentage, the eighth-best in the conference.
Defensive Specialist of the Year: Nicole Otero, Albany
- Otero is the eighth-straight Great Dane to earn the award and ninth overall.
- Just a freshman, she leads the league with 4.84 digs per set, totaling 440 on the year.
- She helped Albany hold opponents to just a .172 hitting percentage, good for second in the conference.
Setter of the Year: Keelin Severtson, New Hampshire
- Severtson is the second-straight Wildcat to be named Setter of the Year and third overall.
- The junior leads the conference with 9.51 assists per set, while also adding 1.93 digs per set.
- She has quarterbacked the UNH attack to a .203 hitting percentage, the second-highest in the America East.
Co-Player of the Year: Laini Leindecker, Albany
- Leindecker is be averaging more than three kills and digs per set.
- The junior is second in the league, averaging 3.51 kills per set while also adding 3.22 digs per set.
- She becomes the fifth different Great Dane to be named Player of the Year and the first since 2012, after helping Albany capture a share of the regular season title.
Co-Player of the Year: Demi Muses, New Hampshire
- The third-straight Wildcat to earn Player of the Year honors.
- She ranks third in the conference with a .287 hitting percentage while averaging 2.93 kills per set.
- The junior middle blocker has also been excellent defensively, ranking 12th in blocks and 10th in kills, helping UNH to a share of its 3rd-straight regular season title.
Three Wildcats and three Great Danes made up six of the seven spots on the All-Conference First Team. Albany’s Leindecker, who earned her second-straight first team selection, was joined by setter Mikala McCauley and middle blocker Tatum Jungsten. McCauley, who is third in assists during conference play, is the lone setter to also be ranked in blocks per set. Outside hitter Tori Forrest, earning her third-straight first team honor, joined her Wildcat teammates Severtson and Muses. Stony Brook outside hitter Kathy Fletcher, who leads the conference with 3.55 kills per set, rounded out the team.
Five different teams were represented on the All-Conference Second Team while three of the seven selections were freshmen. Morgen, the Rookie of the Year, and Otero, the Defensive Specalist of the Year, highlighted the group. Binghamton had pair of selections including setter Sarah Ngo and freshman outside hitter Gabriela Alicea. Ngo was second only to Severtson in conference play with 10.58 assists per set, while Alicea ranked third during league play in kills at 4.24 per set. Stony Brook setter Nicole Vogel and Albany middle blocker Amanda Dolan both earned their second-straight second team selections.
Alicea, Morgen and Otero also were selected to the All-Rookie team, which features seven student-athletes regardless of position who have no prior collegiate experience. UMBC outside hitter Maddie Schneider, Stony Brook middle hitter McKyla Brooks, Hartford outside hitter Paulina Modestow and UMass Lowell defensive specialist Lindsey Visvardis were all featured on the team as six of the seven institutions were represented.
Four all-conference selections also were named to the All-Academic team including UNH’s Forrest (3.62, Business Management & Accounting), Albany’s Leindecker (3.80, Human Biology) and McCauley (3.97, Psychology) and Stony Brook’s Vogel (3.38, Engineering Science). To be eligible for the All-Academic team student-athletes must be a sophomore with a GPA above a 3.30 and play in the majority of your team’s sets. The team is voted on by a group of Sports Information Directors, Faculty Athletic Representative and Academic Advisors. Forrest was one of three Wildcats selected to the team that also included Cassidy Croci (3.90 GPA, International Affaris & Business) and Abby Brinkman (3.91, Speech Pathology). UMass Lowell junior Lauren Bennett (3.59, Exercise Physiology) and Hartford senior Erinn Lavelle (3.89, Civil Engineering) rounded out the team as two of only three first-time selections. Croci, Forrest, Leindecker, McCauley and Vogel all were repeat selections.
The 2015 America East Championship will be held at University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gymnasium beginning on Friday, November 20 with the semifinals at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The championship match will be on Saturday, November 21 at 5 p.m. All games will be streamed live for free on AmericaEast.TV.