UAlbany Volleyball Hits .500 with 39 Kills and 13 Aces to Sweep Hartford 3-0
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ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany volleyball team's captains combined for 26 kills and no attack errors as the Great Danes swept Hartford in three sets (25-7, 25-9, 25-18) to improve to 2-1 in America East play.
Tatum Jungsten earned a career-high seven aces for UAlbany (7-8, 2-1 AE), hitting .722 with 13 kills and no errors on 18 attacks, and had numerous serving runs in each game. Laini Leindecker also earned 13 kills, hitting .565 with no attack errors and adding seven digs. Those two attack percentages are the highest for UAlbany players this season.
“We told the players, we need to concentrate on ourselves and discipline of the things we did not do on Friday [vs. UNH],” said UAlbany head coach MJ Engstrom. “For the most part we did very well. Our middles had a great day; Mikala [McCauley] was setting them very well.”
Along with Jungsten in the middle, Amanda Dolan hit .615 with eight kills and five blocks. As a team, UAlbany held Hartford (0-17, 0-3) to a .000 attack percentage, hitting .500 itself with a season-high 13 aces.
For Hartford, Paulina Modestow finished with a team-best eight kills. Alyse Wenzel and Rachel Moll each had four kills.
Jungsten started the first set with three-consecutive kills off of Gabrielle Hansen's serving as UAlbany jumped out to a 4-0 lead. At 5-2, Leindecker and Dolan combined for UAlbany's next five points, capped by an ace by the former, for a 10-3 lead. UAlbany never gave up back-to-back points in the game as Nicole Otero and Paula Pinto each added aces as UAlbany widened its lead. At 18-7, a Hartford service error sent Jungsten back to serve. Jungsten served UAlbany through the rest of the set as the team used an ace and kills from Dolan and Leindecker to finish the game on a 7-0 run. UAlbany allowed just seven points, the lowest amount scored by any opponent in a game this season, as the Great Danes won the game 25-7.
Shannon Hurley earned a kill in the early going of set two as Hartford took a 3-2 lead. Following a Leindecker kill, Jungsten returned to the back, serving gems for UAlbany. She notched four aces to four different receivers, with Mikala McCauley blocking three attacks in the streak and Leindecker adding two more kills, in an 11-0 run for a 13-3 UAlbany lead. The rest of the way, UAlbany did not allow back-to-back Hartford points. Emily Lopes served through a 4-0 run, then Jungsten helped finish the game with two late kills and aces for a 25-9 UAlbany set two victory.
Hartford took an early 3-1 advantage in the third set. Jungsten and Leindecker earned kills to tie up the set. At 5-4, three Hartford attack errors, the last blocked in the middle by Dolan, to send UAlbany up 7-5. Hartford tied it up at seven, then, following a UAlbany timeout, three more Hartford errors made it 10-7 Great Danes, later 12-8 after two more Jungsten kills. The back and forth continues, with Emily Zimmerman making her UAlbany debut in the back row. Dolan kept earning kills to keep UAlbany's lead. UAlbany led 21-14 after another ace from Otero. Hartford made a final stand as Rachel Moll served the Hawks through a 4-0 run to pull the visitors within three at 21-18. Hurley ended the run with two kills on the outside, as Lopes finished the set on serving with an ace for a 25-18 UAlbany set three victory, ensuring the sweep.
UAlbany hits the road for its next two matches, going to Baltimore for a contest against UMBC on Friday, October 9th at 4 p.m.
