ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany volleyball team returns home for two special matches this weekend.
 
Masks will be required inside all buildings on campus.
 
Friday's match against NJIT will be the Great Danes' Spread Respect contest. The volleyball team has decided to 'spread respect' for social justice and will welcome a SAAC representative to speak before the match.
 
On Sunday, UAlbany is encouraging its volleyball fans to come dressed up for Halloween. The winner of the set-break costume contest will win a UAlbany prize pack.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
NJIT at UAlbany
DATE: Friday, October 29
TIME: 7:00 PM ET
SITE: University Gym - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 9-13, 4-3 America East | NJIT 2-20, 0-8 America East
SERIES RECORD: 2-1, UAlbany leads
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
STREAM: AE.TV
 
New Hampshire at UAlbany
DATE: Sunday, October 31
TIME: 3:00 PM ET
SITE: University Gym - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 9-13, 4-3 America East | New Hampshire 14-9, 5-3 America East
SERIES RECORD: 28-28, series is tied
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
STREAM: AE.TV
 
*records as of 10/27
 
GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany opened their home slate with the Crowne Plaza Albany - The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic on September 3. The Great Danes closed the tournament defeating Cornell, 3-1 on Sept. 4. 
• UAlbany opened their season with a 1-2 record at the Syracuse Tournament (Aug. 27-28), defeating UB (Aug. 28), 3-0, for their first win of the season, before beating Marist, 3-1, on Tuesday (Aug. 31). 
• The Great Danes traveled to Texas for the Texas A&M Invitational (Sept. 10-11) and competed in the Jayhawk Classic hosted by the University of Kansas (Sept. 17-18).
• Closing out their non-conference season, UAlbany hosted Siena for a 3-0 match in the first-ever School Supplies Night (Sept. 22). 
• The Great Danes began America East play with a 3-2 loss at Binghamton (Sept. 26).
• UAlbany won their next three conference games, defeating Hartford for a 3-0 victory on October 8 and taking a 3-1 win at NJIT on October 10 after beating Stony Brook (10/3). 
• Before defeating Hartford for a second time on October 17, the Great Danes fell at New Hampshire in five sets (Oct. 15).
• Most recently, UAlbany defeated Sacred Heart in five sets on Tuesday, October 26.
• Freshman Oren Abutbul leads the Great Danes offense with 225 kills and senior Grace Cozad leads with 2.73 kills per set.
• Junior Malea Stanton and freshman Elaina Wamhoff serve as the team's main setters. Stanton leads with 492 assists and 5.86 assists/set. Wamhoff follows with 334 assists and 4.23 assists/set.
• Senior Charlotte Macken owns a team-high on both offense and defense. She leads with 25 service aces, 353 digs, and 4.15 digs per set. 
• Freshman Anissia Wong leads the blockers with 74.0 total blocks, including seven solo blocks.
• Other Great Dane standouts include graduate student Danielle Tedesco (first on the team with a .286 hitting percentage and second on the team with 62.0 total blocks and 187 kills), freshman Lilou Stegeman (first on the team with 1.11 blocks per set, second with 70.0 total blocks and tied for first with 67 block assists) and senior Regan Wright (second on the team with 167 digs and 2.20 digs per set).

 
ABOUT NJIT

• The Highlanders have an overall record of 2-20 with eight losses in the America East.
• NJIT opened the season with a win against St. Peters, before losing the next 20 games.
• The Highlanders have made appearances in three tournaments - the Delaware Invitational (Sept. 3-4), the Rutgers Tournament (Sept. 10-11), and the Dog Pound Challenge at UConn (Sept. 17-18) - with three individual games against Lafayette (Sept. 7), Fairleigh Dickinson (Sept. 14) and Seton Hall (Sept. 21).
• NJIT opened conference play with two losses against Binghamton (Sept. 24) and New Hampshire (Oct. 3), winning two sets against the former.
• Most recently, the Highlanders broke their streak with a five-set win over Iona (Oct. 26).
• Adriana Goetz-Morales leads with 157 kills and 17 service aces while Elley Torres follows with 117 kills and 16 service aces.
• On defense, Kaitlyn Arias leads with 154 digs while Courtney Branch leads the blockers with 81.0 total blocks and Ines Varela has tallied a team-high 12 solo blocks.
• Juliana Impaglia is NJIT's main setter, totaling 432 assists for a 7.45 assists per set average.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE HIGHLANDERS

• The series against NJIT just began as they joined the America East beginning in the 2020-21 season. 
• Earlier this season, the Great Danes beat the Highlanders, 3-1, on the road.
• Both UAlbany and NJIT earned a win in the spring of 2021.
• The Great Danes took the first match, 3-2, but was unable to compete for the second and NJIT tallied the forfeit win.
• During the first game, Danielle Tedesco led the offense with 13 kills and the blockers with seven blocks while Kamara Kelly led the defense with 23 digs.

 
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE

• The Wildcats are 14-9 overall with a 5-3 America East record.
• New Hampshire opened the season with a 1-2 record at the Mercer Tournament (Aug. 27-28). 
• The Wildcats followed with a 2-1 finish at the Holly Young Invitational (Sept. 2-4) before tallying a win over Holy Cross in a midweek match on Sept. 8.
• Before beginning conference play, New Hampshire headed to an in-state tournament hosted by Dartmouth for a 1-2 record (Sept. 10-11) before sharing hosting duties with Merrimack for their own tournament (Sept. 16-18). 
• New Hampshire has found four three-set victories within the conference - Hartford (Sept. 26), NJIT (Oct. 3, Oct. 22), and Stony Brook (Oct. 24). The Wildcats beat the Great Danes in five sets (Oct. 15) on the road.
• UMBC (Oct. 1, Oct. 10) and Stony Brook (Oct. 8) each found victories over New Hampshire.
• The Wildcats added two three-set non-conference wins against Merrimack (Oct. 20) and Saint Peter's (Oct. 21).
• Abby Sullivan leads with 178 kills while Kelly Kaufman follows with 147 kills.
• On defense, Mia Pagliarini leads the team with 360 digs and Sullivan owns a team-high 65.0 blocks.
• Named America East Setter of the Week on Sept. 7, 2021, Wren Macaulay is ranked first on the team with 739 assists. The junior also leads the team with 29 service aces.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE WILDCATS

• UAlbany and New Hampshire are tied in the all-time series, 28-28.
• Earlier this season, the Wildcats took the five-set victory in Durham, N.H.
• In their final meeting of the 2020-21 season, New Hampshire won due to a forfeit by the Great Danes on March 28.
• Prior to that, UAlbany won the match on Feb. 28, 3-1.
• During the February contest, Noa Brach led the offense with 15 kills while Malea Stanton and Charlotte Macken led the defense with 22 digs each. Stanton also tallied a team-high 25 assists and two service aces while Brach owned a team-high four blocks against the Wildcats. 

 
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• UMBC remains as the sole undefeated team in the America East with a 9-0 record.
• Stony Brook and New Hampshire are tied for second with a 5-3 record.
• UAlbany rounds out the top four with a 4-3 conference record.
• Binghamton (2-5) and Hartford (2-5) sit tied for fifth with a .286 winning percentage.
• NJIT is looking for their first conference win with a 0-8 record.

 
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Friday
  • NJIT at UAlbany, 7 pm
  • New Hampshire at Binghamton, 7 pm
  • Hartford at UMBC, 7 pm
• Sunday
  • NJIT at Binghamton, 1 pm
  • Hartford at Stony Brook, 1 pm
  • New Hampshire at UAlbany, 3 pm

 
WHAT'S UP, PRESEASON

• The Great Dane volleyball team was picked to finish first in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll. UMBC and New Hampshire were voted into a tie for second place.
• UAlbany added seven new players to the roster for the 2021 season.

 
UP NEXT

• The Great Danes head on the road for two America East games next weekend - Stony Brook (Friday, Nov. 5) and UMBC (Sunday, Nov. 7).

For more information on the University at Albany volleyball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanyvb
Instagram - @ualbanyvb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyVB