LOCATION: Brown Field House - Annapolis, Md.
 
SHORT STORY: The Great Danes rose to the occasion playing against two teams from two of the best conferences in volleyball. Battling hard, one of the sets went into extra points, but UAlbany was unable to earn a win, Friday.
 
COACH JOSH PICKARD: "This is a process. We battled at times today and at others, we hopefully took opportunities to learn. The season is still young and we have another chance for growth tomorrow."
 
GAME ONE
 
SCORE: Michigan State 3, UAlbany 0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-10)
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 0-4, 0-0 America East | Michigan State 4-0, 0-0 Big Ten
 
KEY STATS

• Redshirt-freshman Shynelle Woroniuk led with seven kills while senior Charlotte Macken led the defense with nine digs.
• Freshman setter Zosia Szczotkiewicz tallied 20 assists.
• Sophomore Anissia Wong totaled three blocks.
• Six Great Danes notched at least one service ace. Szczotkiewicz led the pack with two while junior Kaleigh Fitzgerald, sophomore Alexa Harris, sophomore Macey Salvione, freshman Anna Myhal, and Wong each added one.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Great Danes started with the serve, gaining a 2-0 lead but the Spartans grabbed three-straight points.
• Rallying back-and-forth, UAlbany tied the score at eight before Michigan State notched a four-point lead, 12-8.
• As the teams continued to trade points, the Spartans tallied a second four-point scoring run to gain a 23-16 lead. The Great Danes were unable to take the lead and fell in the first set, 25-18.
• UAlbany started the second set with a block from Anissia Wong and Alexa Harris but an early scoring run from the Spartans gave them a 6-2 lead. 
• Working their way back from a deficit, the Great Danes tallied five-straight points to tie the score at nine.
• The second set saw multiple scoring runs as the lead changed 10 times before the score was tied at 23.
• Earning a final point, the Great Danes fell, 26-24.
• Michigan State opened the final set with seven-straight points. UAlbany battled but after a 10-0 scoring run from the Spartans, the team was unable to come back.

 
GAME TWO
 
SCORE: VCU 3, UAlbany 0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-21)
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 0-3, 0-0 America East | VCU 1-2, 0-0 A10
 
KEY STATS

• Shynelle Woroniuk led the offense with 12 kills and Charlotte Macken led the defense with 11 digs.
• Sophomore Alexa Harris followed Woroniuk with nine while leading the servers with three service aces.
• Anissia Wong once again topped the blockers with three.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Rams opened the match by gaining a 6-1 lead in the first set. 
• VCU continued with the lead until the Great Danes tallied two 3-0 scoring runs to tie the score at 13. 
• After earning seven-straight points, UAlbany was unable to come back as the Rams took the first set, 25-19.
• The second set opened up with each team trading points until VCU notched a 6-1 scoring run.
• Play continued back-and-forth but the Great Danes were unable to make up the difference from the Rams' early set scoring run and VCU took the second set, 25-19.
• The beginning of the final set saw the Rams gain a 10-3 advantage. 
• Working their way back, the Great Danes worked for several small scoring runs to close VCU's lead to just four at 21-17. 
• Two straight service aces from Alexa Harris closed the point gap once again but a final kill from the Rams gave them the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-0.

 
NEXT: The Great Danes will close out the Kristen Dickmann Invitational tomorrow (Sept. 3) with a 3:30 pm match against the host, Navy.
 
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