ALBANY, N.Y. - The UAlbany volleyball team returns home to host Bryant and UMBC.
Both of the Great Danes' weekend contests will be themed. With seven international student-athletes on the roster, UAlbany will be hosting an International Students Night on Friday. On Sunday, help the team 'Spread Respect' for the annual America East initiative.
UAlbany's home gym, PE Gym, is down for renovations. All home games during the 2023 season will be played at the Kahl Campus Center on Russell Sage College's Albany Campus. To find the gym, put 44 Academy Rd, Albany, NY into your GPS. For more information, click here.
MATCH INFORMATION
Bryant at UAlbany
DATE: Friday, October 8
TIME: 7:00 PM
SITE: Robison Gym at the Kahl Campus Center (Russell Sage College) - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 5-10, 0-1 AE | Bryant 11-8, 0-1 AE
SERIES RECORD: 2-1, Bryant leads
STATS:
UAlbanySports.com
STREAM:
AE.TV
UMBC at UAlbany
DATE: Sunday, October 10
TIME: 4:00 PM
SITE: Robison Gym at the Kahl Campus Center (Russell Sage College) - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 5-10, 0-1 AE | UMBC 8-5, 2-0 AE
SERIES RECORD: 34-14, UAlbany leads
STATS:
UAlbanySports.com
STREAM:
AE.TV
*records as of 10.5
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW
- The Great Danes traveled to New Jersey to begin conference play. NJIT defeated UAlbany in straight sets (Oct. 1).
- Redshirt-sophomore Kendall Harris recorded a team-high nine kills.
- Junior Zosia Szczotkiewicz accumulated a team-best 31 assists.
- On defense, senior Elisavet Papageorgiou led the team with 17 digs while sophomore Tori Wilson recorded a team-high three blocks.
GREAT DANE REWIND
- UAlbany holds a 5-10 record on the year.
- The Great Danes started their season with a three-set sweep over Syracuse (Aug. 25).
- Following the win, UAlbany played close sets against Navy (Aug. 26) and UCF (Aug. 27) to close the UAlbany Invitational.
- The Great Danes moved to 1-5 after three losses at the Chippewa Invitational (Sept. 1-2) before adding one win, over Cornell (Sept. 9) and two losses at the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament.
- UAlbany earned their third win in a four-set victory over George Mason (Sept.15) at the Patriot Invite.
- The Great Danes won back-to-back matches defeating Siena (Sept. 20) and Sacred Heart (Sept. 27).
- Most recently, UAlbany lost their first conference game to NJIT (Oct. 1).
- Redshirt-sophomore Shynelle Woroniuk leads the team with 3.11 kills per set and 3.47 points per set.
- On defense, junior Sthefany Carvalho holds the team-high with 3.18 digs per set.
- Elisavet Papageorgiou leads the Great Danes with 15 service aces.
- Redshirt-freshman Gabriella Karman has recorded 38 blocks this season (0.90/set), with eight solo blocks, while Tori Wilson is behind with 29, including five solo.
- The team's primary setter, Zosia Szczotkiewicz leads with 287 assists in 32 sets (8.97/set).
INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
- The UAlbany coaching staff is constantly at work to represent different cultures and countries on their roster each year.
- The 2023 roster traveled a total of 32,597 miles from their homes to UAlbany.
- Seven different countries and five different states within the USA are included on the 14-person roster.
IN THE RANKINGS
(As of October 5)
- Six Great Danes hold positions in the top statistical rankings within the America East.
WORK AS A TEAM, WIN AS A TEAM
- The Great Danes' rank in the conference:
- 4th - 1.55 service aces/set
ABOUT BRYANT
- The Bulldogs are 11-8 on the season with a 0-1 conference record.
- Bryant began its year with two wins in the first week - defeating Rhode Island at the Air Force Tournament (Aug. 26) and a single match against Stonehill (Aug. 30).
- After tallying wins against Siena (Sept. 1) and Lafayette (Sept. 2), the Bulldogs closed out the Bryant Tournament falling to Northeastern (Sept. 2).
- Grabbing a single-match victory over Holy Cross (Sept. 6), Bryant won its first two matches in the Frair Classic - CCSU (Sept. 8) and Saint Peter's (Sept. 9) - before falling to the hosts, Providence (Sept. 9).
- Besting Columbia (Sept. 15), Merrimack (Sept. 20), and Le Moyne (Sept. 24), the Bulldogs won three games in the next two weeks.
- To begin conference play, UMBC swept Bryant (Sept. 29).
- Most recently, the Bulldogs took a midweek matchup at CCSU (Oct. 3).
- Aubrey Lapour leads the team with 3.36 kills per set and 3.7 points per set.
- Tied with Lapour, Arianna Ugolini owns 3.7 points per set with 3.13 kills per set.
- On defense, Josie Deluga owns the team-high with 3.52 digs per set.
- Two Bulldogs have recorded 50+ blocks - Brookelyn Talmadge (52) and Morgan Smith (50).
- Carolina Camacho and Madison Koeller have served as Bryant's setters. Camacho has recorded 257 assists in 72 sets (5.33/set) while Koeller has notched 219 assists in 52 sets (4.21/set).
- Three Bulldogs have totaled 20+ service aces - Ugolini (35), Carrina Barron (32), and Deluga (26).
SERIES AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
- With a 2-1 advantage, Bryant leads the all-time series.
- UAlbany earned their first win over Bryant in 2019 in a three-set sweep.
- The Great Danes clashed with the Bulldogs twice in the 2022 season, falling in both contests.
ABOUT UMBC
- The Retrievers own a 8-5 record to start the season and are 2-0 in conference.
- Defeating Ohio (Aug. 25), UMBC won one game at the JMU Invitational.
- Tallying four-straight wins, the Retrievers defeated Sacred Heart (Sept. 1) and Fairfield (Sept. 2) on the road with home victories over Princeton (Sept. 8) and Howard (Sept. 9).
- Losing back-to-back games to Virginia (Sept. 10) and #13 Penn State (Sept. 15), UMBC closed out the Penn State Classic with a win over Seton Hall (Sept. 17).
- After falling to Pittsburgh (Sept. 20) in straight sets, the Retrievers began conference play beating Bryant (Sept. 29) and New Hampshire (Oct. 1).
- Kamani Conteh leads the team with 3.72 kills per set and 4.23 points per set.
- On defense, Hannah Howard has recorded 4.27 digs per set
- Michela De Marzi owns a team-high with 50 blocks.
- Serin Maden and Aysia Miller have shared time at setter. Maden leads with 266 assists in 49 sets (5.43/set) compared to Miller's 186 assists in 30 sets (6.20/set).
SERIES AGAINST THE RETRIEVERS
- The Great Danes lead the series, 34-13.
- UMBC won both matches in the 2022 season and have a six-game win streak over UAlbany.
- UAlbany last beat UMBC during the 2019 regular season.
A NEW BEGINNING
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST
- With one weekend of conference play under their belts, UMBC (2-0) and Binghamton (1-0) sit at the top with their respective win count.
- NJIT began with two league matchups to split the results.
- UAlbany, New Hampshire, and Bryant have each tallied one conference loss.
- Overall, UMBC leads with a .615 win percentage (8-5).
- New Hampshire (9-6) and Bryant (11-8) follow with winning records.
- Binghamton (7-8) and NJIT (7-9) sit just below .500.
- The Great Danes round out the standings with a 5-10 overall record.
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK
- Friday
- New Hampshire at Binghamton, 6 pm
- Bryant at UAlbany, 7 pm
- Sunday
- Bryant at Binghamton, 1 pm
- NJIT at New Hampshire, 1 pm
- UMBC at UAlbany, 4 pm
- Tuesday
- Binghamton at LIU Brooklyn, 6 pm
- Merrimack at New Hampshire, 7 pm
UP NEXT: The Great Danes will host Binghamton on Sunday (Oct. 15) for their lone matchup of the week.
For more information on the University at Albany volleyball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanyvb
Instagram & Threads - @ualbanyvb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyVB
