ALBANY, N.Y. - The Great Danes will host Binghamton for International Students Night and UMBC for Spooky Sunday.
 
During Sunday's Spooky Sunday match, anyone who comes dressed in costume will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a UAlbany Prize Pack!
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany vs. Binghamton
DATE: Friday, October 25
TIME: 6:00 PM
SITE: PE Gym - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 8-11, 2-3 AE | Binghamton 13-9, 3-2 AE
SERIES RECORD: 28-12, UAlbany leads
STATS: LiveStats
STREAM: AE.TV
 
UAlbany vs. UMBC
DATE: Sunday, October 27
TIME: 3:00 PM
SITE: PE Gym - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 8-11, 2-3 AE | UMBC 6-12, 4-1 AE
SERIES RECORD: 35-16, UAlbany leads
STATS: LiveStats
STREAM: AE.TV

*records as of 10.24
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• During their Wednesday night match, UAlbany dominated Siena through four sets. Redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk led the Great Danes with 16 kills and the team totaled 11 service aces.
• The Purple and Gold hosted Bryant on Friday night for their annual Dig Pink night where they swept the Bulldogs. Graduate student Elisavet Papageorgiou led UAlbany with 12 kills and junior Tori Wilson denied seven attacks at the net.
• Overall, Woroniuk led the team with 3.29 kills per set and freshman Maria Olga Siapani had 10.29 assists per set. On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek tallied 2.83 digs per set and junior Tori Wilson led with 11 blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds an 8-11 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.
• The Purple and Gold swept NJIT in Newark in their first conference win of the season (Oct. 11).
• The Great Danes had their first undefeated week of the season with a four-set win over Siena (Oct. 16) and a straight-set win over Bryant (Oct. 18).
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the Great Danes with 3.55 kills per set and 3.94 points per set.
• On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek has tallied a team-high 4.08 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani leads the America East with 8.60 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 22 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 BINGHAMTON

• Binghamton is 13-9 on the season.
• The Bearcats opened their season by hosting the Bearcat Classic where they captured their first win of the season against Merrimack (Aug. 30) but fell to Toledo (Aug. 30) and Bucknell (Aug. 31).
• After taking a loss at Villanova (Sept. 4), Binghamton swept at the Fairfield Invitational. The Bearcats took wins against Central Connecticut State (Sept. 6), Fairfield (Sept. 7), and Boston College (Sept. 7).
• Binghamton traveled to Hostra (Sept. 11) where they captured a four-set win.
• The Bearcats brought their hot streak to the Rutgers Invitational (Sept. 12-13) where they defeated Rutgers (Sept. 12) and VCU (Sept. 13).
• On September 18, Cornell ended Binghamton's winning streak at five.
• At the Rose Hill Classic, the Bearcats defeated the hosts, Fordham (Sept. 20), before falling to West Virginia (Sept. 21).
• Binghamton ended pre-conference play with a win at Le Moyne (Sept. 24).
• Back at home, the Bearcats swept UAlbany (Sep. 27) and won a four-set match against LIU (Sep. 29).
• Binghamton was swept by UMBC (Oct. 4) on the road and then returned home to beat Bryant (Oct. 6) in four sets.
• The Bearcats then suffered consecutive losses to Temple (Oct. 9), New Hampshire (Oct. 13) and Colgate (Oct. 16) on the road but secured a sweep of NJIT (Oct. 20) back at home.
• Tsvetelina Ilieva leads the Bearcats with 4.81 kills per set and 39 service aces.
• Emily Cronkhite leads the defense with 3.17 digs per set and Misa Dlouha leads with 98 blocks.
• Lottie Scully is second in the America East with 8.28 assists per set.

SERIES AGAINST THE BEARCATS

• The Great Danes lead the all-time series, 28-12.
• UAlbany squared off against the Bearcats twice last season with Binghamton taking both victories.
• Earlier this season, Binghamton took a straight set victory over the Great Danes in Vestal, N.Y..
• Opposite hitter Shynelle Woroniuk led UAlbany with 10 kills in their last match up.

ABOUT UMBC

• UMBC is 6-12 on the season so far.
• The Retrievers opened their season traveling to Indiana for the Stacey Clark Classic, where they fell to UC Davis (Aug. 30), #8 Purdue (Aug. 31), and Kansas State (Sep. 1).
• UMBC continued their road schedule at the Tru by Hilton Dayton Beavercreek Invitational and suffered straight-set losses to Bowling Green (Sep. 6), Wright State (Sep. 7), and Dayton (Sep. 8).
• The Retrievers returned home to face Lehigh (Sep. 14) and lost in straight sets before traveling to Maryland (Sep. 15) and again falling in three sets. 
• The following weekend at home, UMBC lost a five-set thriller to High Point (Sep. 20) but finally secured their first win of the season, defeating Princeton in five sets (Sep. 21).
• The team then lost to #1 Pittsburgh (Sep. 25) on the road but bounced back with a victory against NJIT (Sep. 29) in their opening America East match.
• UMBC added another two wins against Binghamton (Oct. 4) sweeping the match in straight sets and UAlbany (Oct. 6) in five sets
• UMBC's momentum was halted with a close five-set loss to Bryant (Oct. 13) on the road.
• They quickly rebounded with a four-set home win over Coppin State (Oct. 16). 
• The Retrievers secured a five-set victory over New Hampshire (Oct. 20) before losing another tight five-set match to Howard (Oct. 23) on the road.
• Mia Bulisic leads the team with 3.69 kills per set.
• Aysia Miller leads the defense with 4.14 digs per set.
• Mila Ilieva leads at the net with 70 total blocks.

SERIES AGAINST THE RETRIEVERS

• The Great Danes lead the all-time series, 35-16.
• UAlbany and UMBC faced off twice last season with each team winning their home matches.
• Earlier this season the Great Danes fell in five sets during their visit to Baltimore.
• Opposite hitter Shynelle Woroniuk led UAlbany with 19 kills and middle blocker Gabriella Karman led at the net with nine blocks.

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Friday:
  • Bryant at NJIT, 6 PM
  • Binghamton at UAlbany, 6 PM
• Sunday:
  • New Hampshire at NJIT, 1 PM
  • UMBC at UAlbany, 3 PM

UP NEXT: The Great Danes will hit the road again to face New Hampshire on Friday, November 1.
 
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