Crowne Plaza Albany - The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic Begins Friday

ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany volleyball team is set to host the Crowne Plaza Albany - The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic, a two-day event, at SEFCU Arena on Friday, September 3, and Saturday, September 4.

Masks will be required for all games.

MATCH INFORMATION

Crowne Plaza Albany - The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic
SITE: SEFCU Arena - Albany, N.Y.
UALBANY RECORD: 2-2, 0-0 America East
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
TICKETS: TicketReturn.com

St. John's at UAlbany
DATE: Friday, September 3
TIME: 11:00 AM
ST. JOHN'S RECORD: 0-3, 0-0 Big East
SERIES RECORD: 2-2, series tied
STREAM: AE.TV
St. John's Game Notes

Colgate at UAlbany
DATE: Friday, September 3
TIME: 7:00 PM
COLGATE RECORD: 0-2, 0-0 Patriot League
SERIES RECORD: 6-4, Colgate leads
STREAM: AE.TV

Cornell at UAlbany
DATE: Saturday, September 4
TIME: 7:00 PM
CORNELL RECORD: 0-0, 0-0 Ivy League
SERIES RECORD: 5-0, Cornell leads
STREAM: AE.TV
Cornell Game Notes

*records as of 9/2

GREAT DANE REWIND

UAlbany opened its season with a 1-2 record at the Syracuse Tournament (Aug. 27-28) before beating Marist, 3-1, on Tuesday (Aug. 31).
The Great Danes' first win of the season came against UB in a three-set match (Aug. 28).
Six student-athletes, including four freshmen, have seen all 15 sets on the season - junior Kamara Kelly, senior Charlotte Macken, freshman Elaina Wamhoff, freshman Lilou Stegeman, freshman Oren Abutbul, and freshman Anissia Wong.
Kelly leads the offense with 35 kills and 41 points while graduate student Danielle Tedesco owns a team-high 2.38 kills per set.
On the serve, senior Regan Wright leads the team with seven aces.
Junior Malea Stanton and Wamhoff share the setter's spotlight. Stanton leads the two with 62 assists and 4.43 assists per set with Wamhoff following closely with 60 assists and 4.00 assists per set.
Defensively, Macken has completed 58 digs for 3.87 digs per set.
Wong (16.0) and Stegeman (13.0) lead the middle blockers with their respective block totals. Wong has blocked three attacks solo.

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S

The Red Storm started the season in Florida at the UCF Invitational.
Opening the season against No. 12 Penn State, UCF, and No. 24 Georgia Tech, St. John's was unable to win a set.
Efrosini Alexakou leads both offense and defense with 27 kills, 3.00 kills per set, 28 digs, and 3.11 digs per set.
Rachele Rastelli joins Alexakou on offense with 27 kills and 3.00 kills per set.
Eleonora Tosi has played for nine total blocks, including one solo block.
On the serve, Rastelli leads with three aces.

SERIES AGAINST THE RED STORM

The Great Danes and the Red Storm are tied 2-2 in the all-time series.
Most recently, St. John's won 3-0 in Albany, N.Y. in 2017.
UAlbany last earned a victory over the Red Storm in 2016. The Great Danes went 3-1 for the match win at the West Point Invitational.

ABOUT COLGATE

The Raiders are 0-2 on the season.
Colgate started the season in Nebraska with a loss to Kansas St. (3-1) and No. 5 Nebraska (3-0).
Abby Shadwick leads with 21 kills while Hailey Horn-Bostel leads with 2.33 kills per set.
On defense, Taylor Cigna leads with 32 digs and 4.57 digs per set and Sophie Thompson owns a team-high 10 total blocks, including three solo blocks.

SERIES AGAINST THE RAIDERS

The Raiders hold a 6-4 lead over the Great Danes.
UAlbany last faced Colgate in 2017 for a 3-1 loss at home. Danielle Tedesco is the only player on the team who saw action against the Raiders. She played in one set for one kill and one solo block.
The Great Danes last beat Colgate, 3-0, in 2015 at the Colgate Classic.

ABOUT CORNELL

The Big Red will start its season at the Crowne Plaza Albany - The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic in Albany, N.Y.
Due to the Ivy League's stall in competition, Cornell's volleyball team will see its first action since 2019 on Friday.
The Big Red competed for its best season since 2006 in 2019, which included a 17-6 overall record and an 8-4 Ivy League record.
The Big Red has been picked to finish third in the Ivy League's preseason poll.
Returning from 2019 are two All-Ivy League honorees, Jillienne Bennett and Madison Baptiste. Bennett ranked second on the team in blocks and third in kills while Baptiste led the Big Red in kills and ranked second in digs.

SERIES AGAINST THE BIG RED

The Big Red holds a 5-0 lead over the Great Danes.
Their last meeting was a 3-1 loss at the Otto Invitational in Syracuse, N.Y. in 2014. Laini Leindecker led with 10 kills and 11 digs. The Great Danes won the second set, 27-25, while Cornell took sets one (25-13), three (25-18), and four (25-21).

AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

After the first week of contests, NJIT leads the conference with one win while UAlbany follows with two wins and two losses. Binghamton and New Hampshire hold 1-2 records. Hartford, Stony Brook, and UMBC round out the conference looking for their first wins of the season.

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

Thursday
- UMBC at UT Rio Grande Valley, 4 pm
- Fairleigh Dickinson at New Hampshire, 7 pm
Friday
- Stony Brook at Towson, 10 am
- St. John's at UAlbany, 11 am
- NJIT at Delaware, 12 pm
- Hartford at Yale, 1 pm
- UMBC vs Nicholls St (Fort Worth, Texas), 1 pm
- Binghamton vs Dartmouth (Bethlehem, Pa.), 2 pm
- Stony Brook vs Morgan State (Towson, Md.), 4 pm
- Hartford vs Quinnipiac (New Haven, Conn.), 5:30 pm
- Siena at New Hampshire, 6:30 pm
- Colgate at UAlbany, 7 pm
- UMBC at TCU, 8 pm
Saturday
- Binghamton vs St. Francis College Brooklyn (Bethlehem, Pa.), 10 am
- NJIT vs UMES (Newark, Del.), 11 am
- Hartford vs Syracuse (New Haven, Conn.), 1 pm
- Stony Brook at Loyola (Md.), 1:30 pm
- Providence at New Hampshire, 2 pm
- NJIT vs Fordham (Newark, Del.), 2 pm
- Binghamton at Lehigh, 4 pm
- Cornell at UAlbany, 7 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.

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