UAlbany Volleyball Recovers to Defeat Stony Brook in Five, Increasing Win Streak to Eight
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ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany volleyball team battled back against a hard-hitting Stony Brook team, pulling out a five-set victory (25-22, 14-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-12) on Senior Day to keep its hold on a share of first place in America East play.
“Hats off to Stony Brook, they played an awesome match and beat us in all categories except sets tonight,” said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom. “This year's young kids fought through it, and not once did we feel we were out of it. It is an important step and we are proud of this team for pulling through.”
UAlbany (14-8, 9-1 AE) earns its eighth straight victory, the longest current winning streak in the America East, with its win over Stony Brook (11-16, 5-4 AE). The victory also guarantees that the Great Danes will be at least the 2-seed in the upcoming America East Tournament in two weeks.
Eight straight victories is the longest winning streak for the team since the Great Danes earned 10 in a row from October 19th to November 19th, 2011.
Before the match, UAlbany honored its lone senior Tatum Jungsten with a pregame ceremony.
“It was really nice, and I'm really happy my Mom came out to be there,” said Jungsten. “I felt loved by the crowd, even by people I didn't know. It was a great scene with everyone.”
Laini Leindecker earned her 12th double-double of the season with 14 kills and 15 digs, while setter Mikala McCauley had her 10th double-double of 2015 with 42 assists, 18 digs and three blocks. Shannon Hurley had a team-high 17 kills while Nicole Otero came up one short of her career-high with 26 digs, adding four assists. On her Senior Day, Jungsten finished with nine kills and seven digs.
For Stony Brook, Kathy Fletcher hit .241 with 21 kills and 22 digs. Cydney Bowman hit .560 with 16 kills and 19 digs while Melann Amory concluded with 14 kills and 17 digs.
Early in set one, a Hurley kill sparked a 3-0 run to put UAlbany up 8-5. After a bit of back and forth, McKyla Brooks contributed two kills in a 5-0 run to put the visitors up 12-10. UAlbany tied it up at 12, then Stony Brook struck back with three in a row for a 15-12 lead, later going up 19-15 off Fletcher's spin serve. After timeout froze Fletcher for an error, Hurley pounded down four kills in a row, adding an Amanda Dolan kill, for a 21-19 lead. Stony Brook got the score to 22-22. After a Brooks attack error, Chloe Lamb knocked down a kill, then Gabrielle Hansen buried an ace to give UAlbany the first set victory 25-22.
Each side exchanged an early 3-0 run as Stony Brook took a 6-4 lead. The sides kept exchanging until at 9-8, three straight Stony Brook kills plus a block made it 13-8. The exchanges kept going until at 16-11, Fletcher got a kill then Bowman added three more. UAlbany did not recover from the deficit and fell 25-14 as the match evened up.
Leindecker earned two kills as UAlbany evened up the score after an early hole to make it 3-3. The sides went back and forth as the UAlbany middles kept trading kills against Stony Brook's outside hitters. At 10-9 SBU, Stony Brook got three kills from three different players, then after a service error, Fletcher got three kills in a row, adding a Amory ace to make it 18-10 Seawolves. After a Lamb kill, Paula Pinto served the team through a 4-0 run to cut the deficit in half. UAlbany cut the deficit more with two Jungsten kills and two SBU errors as the score stood at 20-18. But the Seawolves got five of the final six points to win the set 25-19 and go up 2-1 in the match.
UAlbany earned a couple of pairs of points early to build a 7-4 advantage in the fourth set. The pairs of points kept coming for UAlbany with numerous players contributing as the team went up 13-8. A kill and block from Dolan, followed later by kills from Leindecker and Jungsten made the score 19-12 UAlbany. Capped by two Brooks kills, a 4-0 SBU run brought the visitors within three. UAlbany's defense held as the lead went back to five at 22-17. At 23-18, SBU got the next three to make it 23-21. A Hurley kill stopped the run, then after an error, a Fletcher service error ended the game. UAlbany won 25-22 to force a tiebreaker set.
Kills by Leindecker and Jungsten helped UAlbany go up 3-1 early. At 4-2, three SBU kills made it 5-4 Seawolves. UAlbany's defense let Stony Brook swing away for numerous attack errors, adding a Lamb kill as the home team earned a 6-0 run for a 10-5 advantage, later going up 11-6. SBU came back to within two with four of the next five points, all on kills, to pull to 12-10. Holding off another run, UAlbany got exchanges with kills from Leindecker and Hurley finishing the match. UAlbany took the final set 15-12 to take the match in five.
UAlbany returns to the University Gym for its final home regular season match on Sunday, November 8th, taking on UMBC at 2 p.m.
