ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany volleyball team heads to Kansas to compete in a three-day invitational hosted by the University at Kansas. The Great Danes will play three games - two on Friday, September 17, and one on Saturday, September 18.
 
Masks will be required inside all buildings on campus.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
Jayhawk Classic
SITE: Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena - Lawrence, Kan.
UALBANY RECORD: 3-7, 0-0 America East

Missouri State vs UAlbany 
DATE: Friday, September 17
TIME: 12:00 PM ET
MISSOURI ST RECORD: 7-2, 0-0 MVC
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: StatBroadcast
 
Kansas City vs UAlbany
DATE: Friday, September 17
TIME: 6:00 PM ET
KANSAS CITY RECORD: 8-1, 0-0 Summit League
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: StatBroadcast
 
UAlbany at Kansas
DATE: Saturday, September 18
TIME: 12:00 PM ET
KANSAS RECORD: 5-3, 0-0 Big 12
SERIES RECORD: 1-0, Kansas leads
STATS: StatBroadcast
STREAM: ESPN+
TICKETS: KUAthletics.evenue.net
 
*records as of 9/16
 
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). Most recently, the Great Danes traveled to Texas for the Texas A&M Invitational (Sept. 10-11).
• Five student-athletes, including three freshmen, have seen all 37 sets on the season - junior Kamara Kelly, senior Charlotte Macken, freshman Elaina Wamhoff, freshman Lilou Stegeman, and freshman Anissia Wong. Junior Malea Stanton and freshman Oren Abutbul have seen the court for all but one set (36 sets). 
• Abutbul leads the offense with 85 kills, 2.36 kills/set, and 101.0 points.
• Stanton and Wamhoff serve as the team's main setters. Stanton leads with 176 assists and 4.89 assists/set. Wamhoff follows with 145 assists and 3.92 assists/set.
• Macken owns a team-high on both offense and defense. She leads with 13 service aces, 151 digs, and 4.08 digs/set. 
• Wong leads the blockers with 40.0 total blocks, including four solo blocks, and 1.08 blocks/set.
• Other Great Dane standouts include Stegeman (second on the team with 39.0 blocks), Kelly (second with 77 kills), senior Regan Wright (second with 2.17 kills/set, 11 service aces, 103 digs, and 2.94 digs/set; and third with 76 kills)

 
ABOUT MISSOURI STATE

• The Bears opened the season with a 2-1 record at the A-State Invitational (Aug. 27-28). Missouri State earned wins against Arkansas State and Tennessee Martin with a loss to Wichita State.
• The Bears continued competition with another invitational in Arkansas - the UCA Invitational (Sept. 3-4). Once again, Missouri St saw two wins (over Central Arkansas and Little Rock) and one loss (against Memphis).
• Missouri State's most recent weekend of competition was a home tournament (Sept. 10-11) in which they saw three wins against Louisiana Monroe, Tulane, and Saint Louis.
• Amelia Flynn and Manuela Ibarguen lead the offense with 100 kills and 3.45 kills/set. 
• Setter Morgan Sprague owns 303 assists and Rylee Fay leads with a team-high 14 service aces.
• On defense, Teagan Polcovich holds a team-high 113 digs (4.91 digs/set) while Azyah Green leads the Bear's blockers with 37.0 blocks, including 11 solo blocks.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE BEARS

• This will be the first meeting of the Great Danes and the Bears.

 
ABOUT KANSAS CITY

• After opening their season with a loss against Creighton (Aug. 27), the Roos have won eight straight games.
• Two wins were at their season-opening tournament in Columbia, Miss. against Missouri (Aug. 27) and Saint Louis (Aug. 28). 
• The Roos continued with three wins, against Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, and Old Dominion, at the Appalachian State Tournament (Sept. 3-4) and three wins, over Arkansas State, Marshall, and Memphis, at the Semo Tournament (Sept. 10-11).
• Melanie Brecka leads the Roos' offense with 122 kills and 3.49 kills/set while Alli Schomers serves as the main setter with 368 assists (10.51 assists/set).
• Kennedy Schritenthal and Brecka lead on the serve with 15 service aces each.
• On defense, Maddie Renn owns a team-high 168 digs and 4.80 digs/set. 
• De'Janae Arnold leads the blockers with 32.0 blocks, including three solo blocks.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE ROOS

• This will be the first meeting of the Great Danes and the Bears.

 
ABOUT KANSAS

• The Jayhawks have a 5-3 record on the season.
• Kansas earned its first victory at the LUV Invite (Sept. 3-4) against Lipscomb after falling to Loyola Marymount and Purdue at the Reamer Club Spectacular (Aug. 28-29).
• The Jayhawks continued with a win, over Wake Forest, and a loss, against Western Kentucky, at the LUV Invite. 
• Most recently, Kansas won the Kansas Invitational with three wins, playing nine sets, hosting Delaware, Wichita State, and Kent State (Sept. 10-11).
• Jenny Mosser leads the team's offense with 229 kills (3.37 kills/set).
• Elise McGhie is the Jayhawk setter; she owns a team-high 642 assists (8.03 assists/set).
• On defense, Kennedy Farris leads with 285 digs and 3.93 digs/set.
• Caroline Crawford leads the Jayhawk blockers with 76 blocks, including 25 solo blocks.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE JAYHAWKS

• Kansas and UAlbany have met once before in 2019.
• The Jayhawks took the 3-0 win at the UCF Challenge.
• Seven of the 13 Great Danes that saw action in 2019 are still playing for UAlbany - Malea Stanton, Casey Brown, Anna Chalupa, Danielle Tedesco, Noa Brach, Kamara Kelly, and Grace Cozad. Chalupa led the squad with 11 digs and Kelly followed with eight while Stanton earned 18 assists. Chalupa (2), Stanton (1), and Cozad (1) tallied all four Great Dane service aces.

 
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• One weekend to go before we start conference play and New Hampshire leads the America East with a 5-5 record.
• Binghamton and Stony Brook follow with four wins each for second and third, respectively.
• UAlbany and UMBC have three wins each for fourth and fifth place, respectively.
• Hartford (2) and NJIT (1) round out the conference with their respective win totals.

 
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Thursday
  • UMBC vs Robert Morris, 10 am
  • Merrimack at New Hampshire, 6 pm
  • UMBC at West Virginia, 6 pm
  • Central Connecticut at Hartford, 7 pm
• Friday
  • UAlbany vs Missouri State, 12 pm
  • UMBC vs George Washington, 1:30 pm
  • New Hampshire vs Morgan State, 3 pm
  • Stony Brook vs Columbia, 4 pm
  • NJIT vs Yale, 4 pm
  • UAlbany vs Kansas City, 6 pm
  • Dartmouth at Hartford, 6 pm
  • Delaware State at Binghamton, 6 pm
• Saturday
  • UAlbany at Kansas, 12 pm
  • NJIT at UConn, 12:30 pm
  • Stony Brook at Maryland, 1 pm
  • Rhode Island at New Hampshire, 3 pm
  • NJIT vs Bryant, 3:30 pm
  • Stony Brook vs Akron, 4:30 pm
  • Brown at Hartford, 7 pm
• Sunday
  • Binghamton at Delaware State, 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 will host Siena for their final non-conference game on Wednesday, Sept. 22 with a 7 p.m. start time.

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