DURHAM, N.H. – For the second-straight year, the New Hampshire Wildcats and the Albany Great Danes will meet in Durham, N.H. for the America East Volleyball title as both teams advanced in the semifinals on Friday night. Top-seed New Hampshire notched a four-set win over No. 4 Binghamton in the, while second-seeded Albany swept No. 3 Stony Brook.
The 2015 America East Volleyball Championship Game will be on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 5 p.m. and will be available for free on AmericaEast.TV. The Great Danes and Wildcats split their two regular-season meetings this season and were co-regular season champions in the conference. It will mark the first time since 2009 that the championship game will be a rematch. Recap the semifinals matches:
No. 2 Albany 3, No. 3 Stony Brook 0
25-18, 25-19, 25-15
Box Score | Highlights
- Albany advances to its 8th title game in the last 9 years with a straight-set win over Stony Brook.
- America East Co-Player of the Year, Laini Leindecker, finished with 10 kills and 6 digs while Amanda Dolan registered 10 kills and 5 blocks. First-Team All-Conference setter, Mikala McCauley also notched 27 assists and 12 digs.
- Melann Armory and Taylor Wilson led the attack for the Seawolves with eight kills apiece. Wilson, Kathy Fletcher and Nicole Vogel also had double-digit digs.
- Albany's defense held Stony Brook to a .059 hitting percentage. As a team Albany posted 10.0 blocks and 55 digs along with a .207 hitting percentage.
- Albany used an 8-2 spurt in the first set to stretch a 5-4 lead to 13-6 and never looked back, going on to win the set, 25-18. Leindecker had four kills while Dolan had three. The Great Danes notched five total blocks in the set.
- Stony Brook held a 12-6 lead in the second set, but Albany went on a run with Tatum Jungsten serving to come all the way back to take a 14-13 lead. When it was all said and done, the Great Danes had outscored Stony Brook 10-1 in the stretch and taken a 16-13 advantage. Albany went on to win the set, 25-19.
- The Albany offense came alive in the final set, hitting at a .323 clip to finish the match, 25-15. Jungsten and Dolan each had four kills while McCauley had 10 assists.
- The Great Danes have won 11-straight matches overall and are looking for their first title since 2011.
No. 1 New Hampshire 3, No. 4 Binghamton 1
(25-17, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22)
Box Score | Highlights
- UNH is heading to the America East title match for the third-straight season after a four-set win over Binghamton. The Wildcats are looking to become just the third team in America East history to win three-straight titles.
- Three different Wildcats recorded double-digit kills, led by Abby Brinkman’s 14. Tori Forrest registered 13 and Cassidy Croci notched 11, while Setter of the Year, Keelin Severtson totaled 40 assists and 12 digs.
- Madison Lightfoot was outstanding defensively, recording 31 digs, just six off the tournament single-match record. UNH had 82 digs as a team.
- In a closely-contested match, UNH out-hit Binghamton .179 to .154, and out-blocked the Bearcats, 9 to 6.
- The two-time reigning champs came out of the gate with a, 25-17, win in set one thanks to a stellar attack. The Wildcats hit .357 in the set as Brinkman notched five kills.
- In the second set, the Bearcats drew even at 10 apiece, but UNH rattled off six-straight to take control at 16-10.
- The Wildcats went on to win the second set, 25-22, as Brinkman once again paced the offense with four kills while Madison Lightfoot added seven digs.
- Binghamton turned to their star freshman in the fourth set, as Gabriela Alicea had six kills to help the Bearcats to a, 25-22, win.
- After falling behind early in the fourth, Binghamton battled back to take a, 15-11, lead after an ace by Alicea.
- UNH responded by taking six of the next seven points for a, 17-16, lead.
- With the set tied at 21, Forrest and Croci had back-to-back kills to give the Wildcats a two-point cushion.
- Forrest ended the match with an ace as UNH took the fourth set, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.