UAlbany Volleyball Falls in Tight America East Title Match to UNH in Four
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
Highlights (America East)
DURHAM, N.H. – In a thrilling America East title match at the Lundholm Gym, the UAlbany volleyball team rallied to grab set two but fell to New Hampshire in four sets (22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21), ending the 2015 season.
UAlbany (17-9) finishes the year with its winningest season overall and in America East play since 2011. UNH (21-8) won the America East title for the third straight season and will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
“We were playing five freshmen, and we were facing a senior-laden team, but we put up a good fight,” said UAlbany head coach MJ Engstrom. “We did some things on our game plan, but UNH is a great serving team, and we were not able to capitalize on our offense. Good luck to UNH in the NCAAs.”
Laini Leindecker and Amanda Dolan each earned a spot on the America East All-Tournament Team. Today, Leindecker picked up a double-double with 19 kills and 14 digs, while Dolan hit .241 with 11 kills and four blocks. Lyndsey Weiler concluded with 11 kills at outside hitter.
In addition, Mikala McCauley earned the America East Elite 18 Award for the second year in a row for having the highest GPA among participants in the title match. She has a 3.97 GPA in psychology.
For UNH, Tori Forrest hit .327 with 24 kills and 14 digs and earned tournament MVP. Demi Muses hit .371 with 13 kills, 23 digs and four blocks. Keelin Severtson had the key serving run in the first set, finishing with 60 assists and five digs.
A couple of good serves early from Tatum Jungsten and McCauley helped UAlbany lead early 6-3 capped by a Dolan-Chloe Lamb combo block. UNH pulled to within one as the team started to exchange points. At 9-8, Leindecker notched two crushing kills to start a run. Two UNH errors off Jungsten's serving capped the run at 4-0 as UAlbany led 13-8. After UNH pulled to within two at 15-13, UAlbany took four of the next five points, including kills from Lamb and Weiler, to take a 19-14 advantage. At 20-15, UNH went on a run off Severtson's serving to tie the game at 20-20. Leindecker notched a kill to put UAlbany ahead, but UNH went up with two points at 22-21. Leindecker again tied the set with a kill, then UNH got the next three points on kills to take the set 25-22.
Picking up the first two points, UNH held the early lead 6-4. UAlbany got a run going off Nicole Otero's serving, two McCauley dump kills and a couple of UNH errors, to take a 10-6 advantage, later leading 12-7 off kills from Leindecker and Weiler. UNH won three in a row, leading UAlbany to call a timeout. The Great Danes put the lead back to five on a Tori Forrest error, Leindecker kill and a Gabrielle Hansen service ace for a 15-10 advantage. At 17-12, the home team again pulled closer with three points at 17-15. After some back and forth, two UNH blocks tied it up at 19-19. At 20-20, Weiler fired an attack for a kill off the block. Leindecker did the same next point, then a Forrest error gave UAlbany a 23-20 advantage. At set point at 24-21, UNH defended twice to make it 24-23. Leindecker delivered with a kill off the libero to give the set to UAlbany 25-23 and even up the match at 1-1.
The third set started the same as the previous with UNH leading early 6-4. Off Otero's serving, including an ace, UAlbany won four straight to lead 8-6. UNH responded with three in a row, capped by two kills, to go up 9-8. UAlbany went ahead on two Weiler kills from the outside. The back and forth continued and the sides exchanged the lead. At 13-13, UNH got the next two, capped by a Demi Muses block, to go up 15-13, later pushing that lead to 19-15 after a Muses kill, UAlbany attack error and a Forrest kill. The score went to 22-18 after more rallying. After a UNH attack error, McCauley delivered two strong serves, resulting in a Leindecker kill and an ace, to pull UAlbany within one at 22-21. Abby Brinkman got two kills to set up game point. A Dolan kill and UNH handling error helped UAlbany defend twice. The next point however, Muses slid and got the kill off the block, giving UNH the 25-23 set three victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Both sides were earning all kills for the points to begin the fourth set as UNH took the lead 5-3. At 5-4, the UNH front row recorded three kills, then added a UAlbany attack error for a 9-4 advantage, later leading 12-5. The freshmen started to aid in the recovery effort, as Weiler got a kill from the 10-foot line and Hansen hit two aces off Muses. Jungsten added a kill, then Forrest committed an attack error to complete the run at 5-0 and pull UAlbany to 12-10. Severtson served UNH on a 4-0 run to rebuild UNH's lead to 16-10. UAlbany tried to fight back; at 17-12 UNH, Dolan led the way with a solo block, a kill off the second touch to the corner, another solo block and another block, this time with Lamb, then another kill to tie the set at 17-17, later to 18-18. Led by two Courtney Bowman kills, UNH went ahead with three straight for a 21-18 advantage. UNH got three of four to set up match point at 24-19. UAlbany defended twice but fell on the third as UNH won the set 25-21 to take the match in four.
It is the second year in a row that UAlbany has fallen in the America East title match to UNH.
