UAlbany Volleyball Sweeps UMass Lowell for Fourth-Straight Victory
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany volleyball team returned home and swept UMass Lowell (25-12, 25-22, 25-12) to earn its fourth win in a row and stand alone in second place in the America East.
“We knew coming in that UMass Lowell is a team that is improving; they proved that in the second set,” said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom. “Fortunately, we made adjustments and served more aggressively. Laini [Leindecker] and Shannon [Hurley] did great on swings and our middles frustrated [UML] with blocks.”
UAlbany (10-8, 5-1 AE) hit .260 in the match and held UMass Lowell (4-18, 1-5 AE) to a .048 hitting percentage. The Great Danes finished with 10 blocks in the contest.
Laini Leindecker earned her 10th double-double of the year, hitting .333 with 15 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Shannon Hurley hit .357 on the outside with 13 kills and three blocks. Defensively, Amanda Dolan had six blocks while Tatum Jungsten had four.
“UMass Lowell is a lot better than in the past, and we had to be aggressive and control the pace,” said Leindecker. “After struggling with that in the second, we picked it up in the third set.”
Haley Shimon led the River Hawks with seven kills. Lauren Bennett and Elima Ahzi each had five kills.
At 2-2 in the first set, Leindecker earned a kill to send Paula Pinto to serve. Pinto served UAlbany through a 6-0 run, including three more kills from Leindecker, for an 8-2 UAlbany lead. UML broke the streak, then UAlbany started another on Jungsten's serving, winning five points in a row, for a 14-4 advantage. The sides exchanged points when a Leindecker kill, Nicole Otero service ace and Chloe Lamb kill made it 20-7 UAlbany. UML had a late 3-0 run, but UAlbany kept control and finished the River Hawks off on a Jungsten ace for a 25-12 set one win.
Set two began as a back and forth affair as each side kept making attack errors. Dolan blocked two attacks on an early 3-0 UAlbany run, but the set was tied at 6-6. A couple more blocks helped UAlbany take a 10-7 lead. UML countered at 12-10 with a 3-0 run, capped by a kill and block from Ahzi, to make it 13-12 River Hawks. Leindecker notched two kills to put UAlbany back ahead. Later, UML went back up after a Great Dane attack error and a Shimon kill to make it 18-17. UAlbany struck back with a 3-0 run, finished by a Mikala McCauley service ace, to push the Great Danes up 20-18, later to 22-19 off Gabrielle Hansen's serves. UML made a final charge with two kills to pull within one. UAlbany held the lead with a Leindecker kill and Otero ace. Ahzi got a kill to give the serve to UML, but Leindecker notched another kill to finish the game, giving UAlbany a 25-22 second set win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Hansen led UAlbany to a third set-opening 5-0 run on her serve, finishing with an ace. At 8-3, Hurley put down a kill and a block to cap a 3-0 run for an 11-3 UAlbany lead. The sides exchanged as UAlbany kept a strong lead when at 16-9, a Hansen back row strike for a kill sparked a 3-0 UAlbany streak. UML got two points back to make it 19-11. McCauley got a kill to send Leindecker back to serve. Leindecker buried two aces into the UML back row on a 5-0 run to set up match point. At 24-12, Hurley finished the match with a kill for the game three win and 3-0 match sweep for UAlbany.
UAlbany will welcome in Binghamton on Friday, October 23rd at the University Gym for its annual Dig Pink match at 7 p.m.
