ALBANY, N.Y. - The UAlbany volleyball team will travel to Connecticut on Wednesday. 
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany at Sacred Heart
DATE: Wednesday, September 27
TIME: 7:00 PM
SITE: William H. Pitt Center - Fairfield, Conn.
RECORDS: UAlbany 4-9, 0-0 AE | Sacred Heart 3-9, 2-0 NEC
SERIES RECORD: 8-4, UAlbany leads
STATS: SacredHeartPioneers.com
STREAM: NEC Front Row
 
*records as of 9.25
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes hosted Siena in a crosstown matchup (Sept. 20). UAlbany defeated the Saints in straight sets.
• Redshirt-sophomore Shynelle Woroniuk led the team with 10 kills (3.33/set) and a career-high six service aces.
• Junior Zosia Szczotkiewicz accumulated a team-best 23 assists (7.6/set). 
• On defense, junior Sthefany Carvalho finished the game with a team-high 12 digs (4.0/set) while redshirt-freshman Gabriella Karman tallied eight blocks, including three solo blocks.

 
GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 4-9 record on the season.
• 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).
• 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).
• UAlbany earned their third win in a four-set victory over George Mason (Sept.15) at the Patriot Invite.
• The Great Danes swept Siena in straight sets to win the crosstown matchup (Sept. 20).
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the team with 3.23 kills per set, 3.64 points per set, and 12 service aces.
• Senior Elisavet Papageorgiou is tied with Woroniuk with 12 service aces this season.
• On defense, Sthefany Carvalho holds the team-high with 3.21 digs per set.
• Gabriella Karman has recorded 31 blocks this season (0.86/set), with seven solo blocks, while sophomore Tori Wilson is close behind with 19, including four solo.
• Zosia Szczotkiewicz and freshman Emilia Kuzniar have shared time as the team's starting setter. Szczotkiewicz possesses the lead with 225 assists in 26 sets (8.65/set) compared to Kuzniar's 141 in 18 sets (7.83/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.
  • United States
    • New York: Kyrah Wilbur, Nicole Bell
    • Texas: Tori Wilson, Kendall Harris
    • Connecticut: Naliah Grannell
    • Florida: Gabriella Karman
    • Ohio: Campbell Robinson
  • Canada: Brooke Malek, Shynelle Woroniuk
  • Poland: Emilia Kuzniar, Zosia Szczotkiewicz
  • Brazil: Sthefany Carvalho
  • Greece: Elisavet Papageorgiou
  • Ukraine: Anna Myhal

 
IN THE RANKINGS
(As of September 25)

• Seven Great Danes hold positions in the top statistical rankings within the America East.
  • Zosia Szczotkiewicz
    • 1st - 8.65 assists/set
    • 10th - 0.35 service aces/set
  • Kendall Harris
    • 2nd - .318 hitting percentage
  • Sthefany Carvalho
    • 3rd - 3.88 digs/set
  • Shynelle Woroniuk
    • 4th - 3.23 kills/set
    • 6th - 3.64 points/set
  • Gabriella Karman
    • 7th -       0.86 blocks/set
  • Elisavet Papageorgiou
    • 10th - 2.51 digs/set
  • Tori Wilson
    • 10th - .225 hitting percentage 

 
WORK AS A TEAM, WIN AS A TEAM

• The Great Danes' rank in the conference:
  • 4th - 1.58 service aces/set

 
ABOUT SACRED HEART

• The Pioneers are 3-9 on the season with a 2-0 conference record.
• Sacred Heart began its season with two invitationals - the Boston College Invitational (Aug 26-27) and the Sacred Heart/Fairfield Invitational (Aug. 31-Sept.1).
• The Pioneers lost in straight sets to Hofstra (Sept. 5) in their first midweek contest. 
• Sacred Heart won their first game defeating URI, 3-1, (Sept. 9) at the Yale Invitational (Sept. 7-9).
• SHU fell in straight sets in both games at the Villanova Invitational (Sept. 15-16).
• Defeating FDU, 3-1, (Sept. 22) before narrowly beating LIU (Sept. 23), the Pioneers won both contests last weekend to open conference play.
• Junior Camryn Luginbuhl leads the team with 3.33 kills per set and 3.69 points per game.
• Freshman Gaby Zovko is Sacred Heart's setter with 6.93 assists per set while also holding a team-high 25 aces (0.61 service aces/set). 
• Graduate student Jasmine Rogers leads the defense with 3.98 digs per set. 
• Averaging 0.86 blocks per set, Cristina Montanez leads the Pioneers with 32 blocks.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE PIONEERS 

• The Great Danes hold an 8-4 lead over Sacred Heart in the all-time series.
• In their last matchup, UAlbany narrowly fell to Sacred Heart in five sets on October 18, 2022. Returning student-athlete Zosia Szczotkiewicz had 27 assists and four digs.
• Seeing a five-set victory, the Great Danes last won on October 26, 2021. 

 
A NEW BEGINNING

• The Great Danes welcome nine newcomers with five returning student-athletes. 
• Sophomore Anna Myhal returns after having been the only Great Dane to start all 27 matches in 2022. 
• Senior Naliah Grannell and redshirt-sophomore Shynelle Woroniuk return with double-digit starts as a blocker and outside hitter, respectively.
• Sophomores Zosia Szczotkiewicz and Brooke Malek add valuable experience as a setter and on defense, respectively.
• Among the newcomers are mid-year transfers Kendall Harris (Coastal Carolina) and Elisavet Papageorgiou (Eastern Illinois). Gabriella Karman (NC State), Sthefany Carvalho (MSU-West Plains), and Tori Wilson (NC Central) joined the team from their respective schools ahead of the fall semester.
• UAlbany also added four freshmen: Nicole Bell, Emilia Kuzniar, Campbell Robinson, and Kyrah Wilbur.

 
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• New Hampshire leads the conference with a 9-5 record.
• Bryant follows with a .588 win percentage (10-7) while UMBC trails in third (6-5).
• Binghamton is just under .500 with a 6-7 record.
• NJIT possesses a 6-8 overall record. 
• UAlbany rounds out the AE with four wins and nine losses. 

 
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Wednesday 
  • UAlbany at Sacred Heart, 7 pm 
• Friday   
  • Binghamton at NJIT, 6 pm
  • UMBC at Bryant, 7 pm
• Sunday
  • New Hampshire at UMBC, 1 pm
  • UAlbany at NJIT, 2 pm

 
UP NEXT: The Great Danes will begin conference play as they face NJIT on Sunday (Oct. 1).
 
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