ALBANY, N.Y. - The Great Danes will visit LIU before coming home on Friday to host Senior Night.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany at LIU
DATE: Tuesday, November 5
TIME: 6:00 PM
SITE: Steinberg Wellness Center
RECORDS: UAlbany 9-13, 3-5 AE | LIU 11-15, 7-3 NEC
SERIES RECORD: 1-1, series tied
STATS: LiveStats (link coming soon)
STREAM: NEC Front Row
 
UAlbany vs. NJIT
DATE: Friday, November 8
TIME: 6:00 PM
SITE: PE Gym
RECORDS: UAlbany 9-13, 3-5 AE | NJIT 5-21, 0-8 AE
SERIES RECORD: 6-3, UAlbany leads
STATS: LiveStats
STREAM: AE.TV

*records as of 11.4
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes fell in their one-match week against New Hampshire on Friday, November 1.
• Redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk led UAlbany with 10 kills and senior Zosia Szczotkiewicz facilitated 19 assists. Freshman Kasia Barletta led on defense with nine digs and one service ace, and junior Tori Wilson led at the net with three blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 9-13 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). 
• UAlbany fell to Binghamton (Oct. 25) in three sets but bounced back with a thrilling five-set victory over UMBC (Oct. 27). 
• In their visit to Durham, the Great Danes fell to New Hampshire (Nov. 1).
• 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 3.84 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani leads the America East with 8.39 assists per set.
• Redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman has totaled double-digit blocks, leading the team with 52 total blocks.
• Siapani leads the Great Danes with 26 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 LIU

• The LIU Sharks are 11-15 on the season so far.
• In early non-conference play, LIU competed in matches against UConn (Aug. 30), Sacred Heart (Aug. 31), and Youngstown State (Sep. 1) in Storrs, CT, but faced close losses in all three. They then took on a challenging lineup, facing Tennessee (Sep. 6), UCLA (Sep. 7), Rutgers (Sep. 10), Minnesota (Sep. 12), and Auburn (Sep. 14), ending with losses in each match.
• The Sharks competed in Queens, where they fell to Bryant (Sep. 20) and St. John's (Sep. 20) but picked up a win against Iona (Sep. 21).
• At home, LIU recorded victories over Quinnipiac (Sep. 3), Saint Francis U (Oct. 4), and Manhattan (Oct. 23), though they faced losses to Seton Hall (Sep. 17), Saint Francis U in a second match (Oct. 5), and Binghamton (Sep. 29).
• On the road, LIU defeated Saint Peter's (Oct. 15) and won two matches each against Stonehill (Oct. 18, Oct. 19) and Le Moyne (Oct. 25, Oct. 26). They closed out with consecutive victories against Mercyhurst on the road (Nov. 1, Nov. 2).
• Camelia Melendez leads the team with 3.07 kills per set and 41 service aces.
• Alasha Colon leads the defense with 4.59 digs per set.
• Bria Plante leads at the net with 95 total blocks.

SERIES AGAINST THE SHARKS

• The all-time series is tied, 1-1.
• The Great Danes faced the Sharks for the first time since 2012 last season where they fell in four sets at home.
• UAlbany was led by redshirt-junior Kendall Harris and redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman with 13 kills each.

ABOUT NJIT

• The NJIT Highlanders are 5-21 on the season so far.
• In early non-conference play, NJIT began with losses to Syracuse (Aug. 30), Canisius (Aug. 30), and Lafayette (Aug. 31) before earning a win over Le Moyne on Aug. 31. They then suffered losses to Saint Peter's (Sep. 3) and Kent State (Sep. 6).
• In tournament play, NJIT faced tough competition, falling to Seton Hall (Sep. 7), St. John's (Sep. 10), Syracuse (Sep. 13), and George Washington (Sep. 20) but managed wins over Sacred Heart (Sep. 8) and Idaho (Sep. 14).
• The Highlanders secured a victory over Manhattan (Sep. 24) but dropped matches to Siena (Sep. 14), Bryant (Sep. 27), FDU (Oct. 2), and New Hampshire (Oct. 6).
• NJIT faced additional challenges with losses to UMBC (Sep. 29), UAlbany (Oct. 11), Bryant (Oct. 25), and New Hampshire (Oct. 27), followed by another loss to UMBC on the road (Nov. 1).
• Ema Torres leads the team with 2.50 kills per set.
• Doga Emil leads the defense with 3.74 digs per set.
• Ines Varela leads at the net with 99 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.
• The Purple and Gold won on the road earlier this season against the Highlanders in three sets.
• The Great Danes were led by redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk with 13 kills in the matchup on October 11.

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

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

 
UP NEXT: The Great Danes play one more regular season match next week at Bryant on Saturday, November 16.
 
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