ALBANY, N.Y. - The UAlbany volleyball team continues its season at the Patriot Invite hosted by George Mason.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
SITE: Recreational Athletic Complex - Fairfax, Va.
STATS:
GoMason.com
TICKETS: Free
RECORDS:
UAlbany 2-7, 0-0 AE
George Mason 4-5, 0-0 Atlantic 10
MTSU 5-3, 0-0 Conference USA
Seattle 3-5, 0-0 WAC
UAlbany at George Mason
DATE: Friday, September 15
TIME: 7:00 PM
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STREAM:
ESPN+
MTSU vs UAlbany
DATE: Saturday, September 16
TIME: 11:00 AM
SERIES RECORD: 2-1, MTSU leads
STREAM: Not available
Seattle vs UAlbany
DATE: Saturday, September 16
TIME: 6:00 PM
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STREAM: Not available
*records as of 9.11
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW
- The Great Danes played three matches at the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament hosted by Colgate (Sept. 8-9).
- On Friday, September 8, UAlbany fell in three sets to Colgate. Redshirt-sophomore Shynelle Woroniuk led the offense with nine kills and junior Sthefany Carvalho notched a team-high 11 digs.
- The Great Danes competed in two games on Saturday (Sept. 9). Playing an early match, UAlbany beat Cornell after four close sets. Later that day, UAlbany fell in three sets to West Virginia.
- Overall, Woroniuk led the weekend with 37 kills (5.3/set). On defense, Carvalho tallied 48 digs (6.8/set) and redshirt-freshman Gabriella Karman led with 10 blocks.
GREAT DANE REWIND
- UAlbany holds a 2-7 record on the season.
- The Great Danes started 2023 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.
- After closing out the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament with a split, UAlbany moved to 2-7. The Great Danes' second win came over Cornell in four sets (Sept. 9).
- Shynelle Woroniuk leads with 3.08 kills per set and 3.30 points per set.
- On defense, Sthefany Carvalho has tallied 3.21 digs per set for a team-high.
- Junior Zosia Szczotkiewicz and freshman Emilia Kuzniar have shared time as the team's starting setter. Szczotkiewicz holds the slight lead with 8.56 assists per set to Kuzniar's 6.86.
- Sophomore Anna Myhal holds a team-high with eight service aces.
- Gabriella Karman and sophomore Tori Wilson have each totaled double-digit blocks. Karman leads with 20, including three solo blocks, while Wilson owns 14, including two solo blocks.
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 September 14)
- Five Great Danes hold positions in the top statistical rankings within the America East.
ABOUT GEORGE MASON
- The Patriots are 4-5 on the season after three weekends of play.
- Opening the season at the DC Challenge, George Mason fell to American (8.26), Georgetown University (8.26), and Howard University (8.27).
- At the Seton Hall Classic, the Patriots took down NJIT (9.1) in four sets and Saint Peter's with a sweep (9.2) but were defeated by the host, Seton Hall (9.1).
- Last weekend at the Mason Invite, GMU lost to Brown (9.8) before defeating Robert Morris (9.8) and Radford (9.9) in straight sets.
- Nani Spaar leads the team with 3.85 kills per set and 4.27 points per set.
- Gracie Halley tops the defense with 4.62 digs per set.
- Chelsea Colter owns the team-high with 27.0 total blocks.
- Camille Larkin follows closely with 26.0 blocks and a team-high 12 service aces.
SERIES AGAINST THE PATRIOTS
- This will be the first time that George Mason and UAlbany face off against each other.
ABOUT MTSU
- The Blue Raiders are 5-3 after three regular-season tournaments.
- MTSU opened the season at the Big Orange Bash where they were defeated by Clemson (8.25) and Wofford (8.26).
- At the Fryfest Invitational, the Blue Raiders competed in three three-set matches. First falling to Iowa, MTSU found victories over South Dakota State (9.2) and Kent State (9.3).
- The Blue Raiders swept the Tiger Invitational, toppling #25 Auburn (9.7), Mercer (9.8), and Charleston Southern (9.9).
- Kayla Henley leads the team with 3.38 kills per set and 4.03 points per set.
- On defense, Erin Eisenhart owns a team-high 3.59 digs per set.
- Kaylee Oscarson tops the team with 24 total blocks, including seven solo blocks, and Adri Rhoda has notched a team-high 14 service aces.
- Taylor Eisert is the starting setter with 347 assists (11.97 a/s).
SERIES AGAINST THE BLUE RAIDERS
- MTSU holds a 2-1 lead over the Great Danes in the all-time series.
- The Blue Raiders earned the win in the first meeting between the two teams on September 16, 2006.
- UAlbany won a five-set match at the Miami Invitational in 2009.
- Most recently, UAlbany lost on September 11 at the Middle Tennessee State Invitational in 2010.
ABOUT SEATTLE
- The Redhawks are 3-5 on the season after three weekends of play.
- Starting the season at the Idaho Volleyball Classic (Aug. 25-26), Seattle defeated Idaho and UC Riverside in three sets but fell to North Dakota State.
- At the EWU Tournament, the Redhawks fell to the host Eastern Washington (9.2) and Pacific (9.1) before earning a win against Nevada (9.2) in five sets.
- Most recently, Seattle returned from Montana with two losses to Montana State (Sept. 7-8).
- Arianna Bibly leads the team with 4.71 points per set and 4.21 kills per set.
- Katlyn Sipes tops the defense with 3.76 digs per set.
- Marley Hardgrave owns a team-high with 19 total blocks.
- Elif Teksoy serves as the team's starting setter with 9.52 assists per set.
SERIES AGAINST THE REDHAWKS
- This will be the first meeting between Seattle and UAlbany.
A NEW BEGINNING
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST
- New Hampshire leads the conference with a .700 win percentage (7-3).
- UMBC follows with a 5-3 record while Binghamton (6-4) and Bryant (7-5) are close behind in the win percentage column.
- NJIT sits even at .500 with five wins and five losses.
- UAlbany rounds out the AE with a 2-7 record.
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK
- Friday
- Bryant at St. John's, 9 am
- Texas State vs New Hampshire, 11 am
- Columbia vs Bryant, 4 pm
- NJIT at Delaware State, 7 pm
- UMBC at Penn State, 7 pm
- UAlbany at George Mason, 7 pm
- New Hampshire at Kansas, 8 pm
- Saturday
- UAlbany vs MTSU, 11 am
- NJIT vs Georgetown, 11 am
- Binghamton vs Brown, 1:30 pm
- Arkansas vs Bryant, 2 pm
- NJIT vs Penn, 4 pm
- UAlbany vs Seattle, 6 pm
- Binghamton at UCONN, 7 pm
- Sunday
- Seton Hall vs UMBC, 1 pm
- Binghamton vs Michigan State, 1 pm
UP NEXT: The Great Danes will host their first single home match next week
end against Siena (Sept. 20).
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
