ALBANY, N.Y. - The UAlbany volleyball team heads to Newark to face NJIT.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany at NJIT
DATE: Friday, October 11
TIME: 6 PM
SITE: Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center (WEC) - Newark, N.J.
RECORDS: UAlbany 5-11, 0-3 AE | NJIT 5-16, 0-3 AE
SERIES RECORD: 5-3, UAlbany leads
STATS: LiveStats
STREAM: AE.TV

*records as of 10.10
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes faced Le Moyne (Oct. 2) and UMBC (Oct. 6) in a 1-1 week.
• UAlbany took a dominating four-set win over Le Moyne (Oct. 2) and was led by redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk with 15 kills.
• In their visit to UMBC (Oct. 6), the Great Danes played two nearly perfect sets with only one error but ultimately fell to the Retrievers in five sets.
• Overall, Woroniuk led the team with 3.78 kills per set and five service aces, and freshman Maria Olga Siapani had 7.38 assists per set. On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek tallied 3.50 digs per set and redshirt-sophomore sophomore Gabriella Karman led with 13 blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 5-11 record on the season.
• The Great Danes started 2024 with a three-set sweep against NDSU (Aug. 30) but fell to UIC (Aug. 30) and FGCU (Aug. 31) at the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers Classic.
• The Purple and Gold hosted the UAlbany Invitational and went 2-1 with back-to-back wins against Iona (Sept. 6) and FDU (Sept. 7). 
• UAlbany battled at the Dog Pound Challenge (Sept. 13-14) but fell in three matches.
• At the UniWyo Invite (Sept. 20-21), the Great Danes fell to Utah (Sept. 20) and Wyoming (Sept. 20) but went on to sweep Coppin State in three sets (Sept. 21).
• In their first conference week of the season, the Great Danes fell in three sets to Binghamton (Sept. 27) and New Hampshire (Sept. 29).
• UAlbany defeated Le Moyne in a dominating four-set victory (Oct. 2).
• The Great Danes started their road trip with a match against UMBC (Oct. 6) and fell in five sets.
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the Great Danes with 3.54 kills per set and 3.89 points per set.
• On defense, senior Sthefany Carvalho has tallied a team-high 3.30 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani leads the America East with 8.25 assists per set.
• Redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman has totaled double-digit blocks, leading the team with 49 total blocks.
• Siapani leads the Great Danes with 16 service aces for the Great Danes.

BUILDING ON GREATNESS

• The Great Danes welcome six newcomers with eleven returning student-athletes. 
• Senior Zosia Szczotkiewicz returns after being named the America East Setter of the Year and America East Second Team All-Conference.
• Junior Anna Myhal and graduate student Elisavet Papageorgiou both return after having been the only Great Danes to start all 25 matches in 2023. 
• Redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk and Sthefany Carvalho add valuable experience as team leaders in points and digs as an outside hitter and the team's libero, respectively.
• Among the newcomers is mid-year transfer Dora Filipovic who joined the team after two successful seasons in the NJCAA.
• UAlbany added five freshmen: Maria Olga Siapani, Kiki Provatas, Kasia Barletta, Nia Gibson, and Sabrina Kinkaid.

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

• The UAlbany coaching staff is constantly at work to represent different cultures and countries on their roster each year.
• The 2024 roster traveled a total of 43,861 miles from their homes to UAlbany.
• Eight different countries and five different states within the USA are included on the 17-person roster.
  • United States
    • New York: Kasia Barletta, Sabrina Kinkaid
    • Texas: Tori Wilson, Kendall Harris
    • Maryland: Nia Gibson
    • Florida: Gabriella Karman, Kiki Provatas
    • Ohio: Campbell Robinson
  • Canada: Brooke Malek, Shynelle Woroniuk
  • Poland: Emilia Kuzniar, Zosia Szczotkiewicz
  • Brazil: Sthefany Carvalho
  • Greece: Elisavet Papageorgiou
  • Ukraine: Anna Myhal
  • Cyprus: Maria Olga Siapani
  • Croatia: Dora FIlipovic

ABOUT NJIT

• The NJIT Highlanders are 5-16 on the season so far.
• The Highlanders opened their season traveling to Syracuse, N.Y. for the Salt City Classic where they fell to Syracuse (Aug. 30), Canisius (Aug. 30), and Lafayette (Aug. 31) before earning their first victory against Le Moyne (Aug. 31) in straight sets. 
• After returning home the team lost a close five-set match to Saint Peter's (Sep. 3) before heading to the Seton Hall Classic, where they suffered straight-set losses to Kent State (Sep. 6) and Seton Hall (Sep. 7). The Highlanders rebounded with a five-set victory over Sacred Heart (Sep. 8).
• The team continued their road stretch but faced more challenges after falling to St. John's (Sep. 10) in straight sets.
• The Highlanders took a trip to the Siena Invitational where they fell to Syracuse (Sept. 13) again but went on to sweep Idaho (Sep. 14) and Siena (Sep. 14) to secure two more victories.
• NJIT returned home but suffered another loss to UPenn (Sep. 17). The Highlanders then struggled in the Delaware State Tournament, dropping matches to George Washington (Sep. 20), Harvard (Sep. 21), and Delaware State (Sep. 21).
• After a road win against Manhattan (Sep. 24), the Highlanders dropped their next three matches to Bryant (Sep. 27), UMBC (Sep. 29), and FDU (Oct. 2). 
• Most recently, NJIT fell to New Hampshire (Oct. 6) on the road.
• Ema Torres leads the team with 2.48 kills per set.
• Doga Emil leads the defense with 3.66 digs per set.
• Mila Ilieva leads at the net with 81 total blocks.

SERIES AGAINST THE HIGHLANDERS

• The Great Danes lead the all-time series, 5-3.
• UAlbany and NJIT faced off twice last season with each team winning their home matches.
• Opposite hitter Kendall Harris led with nine kills when the team visited NJIT (Oct. 1) and outside hitter Shynelle Woroniuk led the Great Danes with 18 kills in the Great Danes win (Oct. 22).

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Friday:
  • UAlbany at NJIT, 6 PM
  • New Hampshire at Bryant, 7 PM
• Sunday:
  • UMBC at Bryant, 1 PM
  • Binghamton at New Hampshire, 1 PM

UP NEXT: Following their match against NJIT, the Great Danes will head back to Albany, N.Y. for a match down the road against Siena on Wednesday, October 16.

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