CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Stony Brook University outside hitter Jackie Ahlers (Stony Point, N.Y./St. John's) is the America East Volleyball Player of the Week for the week ending October 8 and teammate Kaitlyn Deutsch (St. Louis, Mo./Southern Miss.) is the league's Setter of the Week after both student-athletes led the Seawolves to consecutive wins over two of the conference's top volleyball teams last week. University at Albany's freshman outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) also received the America East Volleyball Rookie of the Week honor for the third time this season. Click here for full release.
Ahlers led the Seawolves to two conference wins over first-place UMBC and Binghamton last week. The senior outside hitter totaled 43 kills (6.14 kpg) for tops in the conference last week, and compiled an attack percentage of .446. Ahlers registered a match-high 22 kills at a .600 clip in the 3-0 sweep of the Retrievers on Friday night. She then totaled 21 kills and an attack percentage of .333 in Stony Brook's 3-1 victory over Binghamton on Sunday. Ahlers led America East in points per game over the week, tallying 6.57 per game. This is the second such award for Ahlers in 2007.
Cowdrey averaged a team-high 3.38 kills per game and was second with 3.38 digs per game in leading the Great Danes to an America East Conference split last week. The rookie recorded her 11th double-double of the season in a 3-2 loss to New Hampshire, finishing with a team-high 15 kills and 18 digs. She finished with 12 kills and nine digs in a 3-0 win over Maine, while also finishing with five service aces against the Black Bears. Cowdrey totaled 0.62 service ace per game last week for fourth-best in the conference.
Deutsch averaged 14.71 assists per game in the Seawolves' consecutive victories over UMBC and Binghamton last week. The senior hit at a .667 clips and recorded 59 assists in the 3-1 victory over Binghamton, setting the Stony Brook four-game match assist record in the process. Deutsch also registered 44 assists in the sweep of UMBC on Friday. She contributed 10 and 11 digs against the Retrievers and Bearcats, respectively.
Team Notebooks:
Albany (13-6 overall record, 3-1 America East record) split two matches in America East Conference play last weekend... The Great Danes fell to New Hampshire, 3-2, before claming a 3-0 victory over Maine... America East Rookie of the Week, outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey (Brampton, Ontario/Cardinal Leger) averaged a team-high 3.38 kills and was second with 3.38 digs to lead UAlbany... Cowdrey recorded her eleventh double-double of the season with a team-high 15 kills and 18 digs against New Hampshire... She then finished with 12 kills, nine digs and five service aces against Maine... Freshman setter Brooke Stanley (Hendersonville, N.C./West Henderson) averaged 12.00 assists and 3.00 digs over the weekend... She recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 51 assists and 15 digs, to go along with three service aces and two block assists in the loss to New Hampshire... She then handed out 43 assists and recorded nine digs in the sweep of Maine... Sophomore outside hitter Kate Eckhardt averaged 2.62 kills and 4.00 digs to go along with four service aces and a .475 hitting percentage last weekend... Eckhardt recorded a career-high 13 kills and completed her first career double-double with 13 digs to lead UAlbany over Maine... In the loss to New Hampshire, she finished with a career-high 19 digs to go along with eight kills and two service aces... The Great Danes continue America East Conference play on Friday, Oct. 12 at UMBC at 4 p.m. at home before traveling to Binghamton on Monday at 7 p.m.
Binghamton (10-13, 3-1 America East) posted a 2-1 mark on the week and have now won four of its last five matches...Senior Jacki Kane (Centennial, Colo./Grandview) led Binghamton with a team-high 3.09 kills per game at a .346 clip (34-7-78) and 1.91 blocks per game. She posted a double-double with a team-high 13 kills and a match-high 12 blocks to lead Binghamton to a 3-1 victory at Hartford. She finished the evening without committing an error for a .500 (13-0-26) hitting percentage. The 6-foot-2 middle blocker added a 10-kill and eight-block performance against Colgate and another 11 kills against Stony Brook....Sophomore Dawn Lammert (Sussex, Wis.) hit at a team-high .453 clip (29-5-53) and was second behind Kane with 2.64 kills per game. She also was a factor at the net with 1.36 blocks per game...Binghamton averaged 3.50 team blocks per game, highlighted by a season-high 18.0 blocks against Hartford...The Bearcats begin the first of three straight home dates on Tuesday when upstate N.Y. neighbor Cornell visits the West Gym Court. The homestand continues with a pair of conference dates on Monday, October 15 against Albany and Friday, October 19 against Stony Brook.
Hartford (7-13, 0-3 America East) dropped a pair of conference matches last week, both at home. The Hawks began with a 3-1 loss to Binghamton on Friday night and then dropped a three-game match to the UMBC Retrievers on Saturday afternoon. Hartford was led in both matches by sophomore middle hitter Erin Macro (Lincoln, R.I./Lincoln) who finished with double digits in both matches. She opened the week with a new career-high of 17 kills in the Hawks loss to Binghamton. She finished that match with eight errors in 34 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .265. She then finished with 10 kills against UMBC, the only player to record double digits in the match. She finished that match with a .227 attack percentage, five errors in 22 total attacks. Freshman setter Lindsay Ford (Carson, Nev./Carson) led the Hawks in both matches with 35 and 24 assists respectively. Defensively, the Hawks were led by senior Jennifer Monroy (Rahway, N.J./Union Catholic) in both matches. She finished with a double double against Binghamton, 15 digs and 12 kills, and then added 11 digs against UMBC. The Hawks will play two conference matches in the coming week, Friday at Maine (7 p.m.) and Sunday at New Hampshire (1 p.m.)
Maine (1-16, 0-4 America East) played two conference away matches this weekend at Albany and New Hampshire... Maine was led in kills in both matches by juniors, Amy Lawson against Albany with 12 and Lindsay Allman against UNH who tallied 21... Allman’s kills were match-highs... On Sunday afternoon, Albany kept Maine at arms length with 54 kills in the match... Freshman Emily Root led the Black Bears in digs with a match-high 15... In Monday night’s match against New Hampshire, Maine was slow out of the block but forced a close third game and came out on top to give some life to the Black Bears going into the fourth game... But after the break, the Wildcats dug in and came out with 17 kills in the game to take the match... Maine was again led in kills by Allman with 21, which was a match-high... Freshman Paige Tortorello took over the setting duties and led Maine with a career-high 44 assists... Freshman Emily Root had a team-high 17 digs... And junior Amy Lawson blocked six attacks... The Black Bears next matches will be home after a 10 match road trip... They will host Hartford on Friday at 7 p.m. and Stony Brook on Sunday at 2 p.m.
UMBC (17-5, 3-1 America East) took to the road for their first away conference matches last week as they faced Stony Brook and Hartford after ending a four-match homestand with a mid-week match against Georgetown... The Retrievers made quick work of the Hoyas, handing them a 3-0 decision, hitting .330 for the match... The Retrievers then traveled to Stony Brook, N.Y. to battle the Seawolves and came out on the wrong side of a 3-0 decision in their first conference loss... Sophomore Tiffany Johnson (Abingdon, Md./Arundel/Kansas State) led the Retrievers with a .600 hitting percentage after tallying nine kills on 15 attacks with no errors and also added two assisted blocks... The Retrievers came back with a vengeance on Saturday, defeating Hartford, 3-0, with Johnson again leading the pack... Johnson added nine more kills on eighteen attacks and just one error for a .444 hitting percentage against the Hawks, while adding two more assisted blocks... The Retrievers will return home on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match against NJIT, and then host Albany on Friday at 4 p.m.
New Hampshire (13-6, 2-2 America East) went a perfect 2-0 on the week to even its conference record and surpass its overall win total from the past season... Trailing 7-3 in the fifth and final game, the UNH closed out the match on a 12-3 run to capture the 3-2 win over Albany on Friday night... The loss was the first conference loss for the reigning America East champions... Sophomore Kirsten Bates (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) registered a double-double with a match-high 28 kills and 22 defensive digs to lead four Wildcats in double figures... Bates served up seven-straight points during the Wildcats’ match-winning run... Seniors Toni Barnas (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove), Emmy Blouin (St. Albert, Alberta/Paul Kane) and Jessica Compton (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) had 12, 11 and 10 kills, respectively... Sophomore Kate Uitti (Pinckney, Mich./Pinckney) had a match-high 61 assists, while Alyse Lahti (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) had a match-best 28 defensive digs... On Monday night, the Wildcats improved to a perfect 5-0 at home in a 3-1 win over AE foe Maine... Sophomore middle blocker Lindsay Fogarty (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) recorded a team-best 16 kills to pace four Wildcats in double figures... In addition to Fogarty, seniors Blouin and Barnas had 12 kills a piece, while Bates rounded out top hitters with 10 kills... Uitti continued to set the stage for the Wildcats registering a match-best 51 assists... Uitti has record 50-plus assists in each of the last six matches for the Wildcats... Overall, Uitti has 800 assists on the season... The sophomore setter recently moved into fourth in the all-time assists list... Other players on the move include Blouin, who recently moved into fourth on the all-time kills list with 1,193 and Lahti, who ranks eighth in assists with 766... The Wildcat volleyball team looks to continue its home success as they play host to Stony Brook University on Friday night for the annual “Pack the Arena” night and close out the week hosting AE foe Hartford on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Stony Brook (14-7, 3-1 America East) earned consecutive home victories over first-place teams this weekend, defeating UMBC, 3-0, on Friday night and then coming back to beat Binghamton, 3-1, on Sunday afternoon. The Seawolves have now won nine of their last 10 matches and are 3-1 at home this season. Stony Brook is off to its best start since starting the 2002 season, 14-7... America East Player of the Week Jackie Ahlers totaled 43 kills (6.14 per game) in two matches this week, compiling an attack percentage of .446. The senior registered a match-high 22 kills with an attack percentage of .600 in the Seawolves 3-0 sweep of first-place UMBC on Friday night. She then totaled 21 kills and an attack percentage of .333 in Stony Brook’s 3-1 victory over first-place Binghamton on Sunday. Ahlers .600 attack percentage on recording her 22 kills on Friday night was the highest such percentage by a Seawolf since Daniille MacKnight hit .800 in 2004... America East Setter of the Week Kaitlyn Deutsch averaged 14.71 assists per game in the Seawolves consecutive victories. She recorded 59 assists, a Stony Brook four-game match record, in the 3-1 victory over Binghamton after registering 44 assists in the sweep of UMBC on Friday. Stony Brook visits New Hampshire on Friday for a 7 p.m. match and continues the road trip on Sunday in Orono to face the Black Bears.