ALBANY, N.Y. - The Great Danes are wrapping up their pre-conference play at the UniWyo Invite. All three matches will be first-time faceoffs with action against Utah, Coppin State, and the host, Wyoming.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

UniWyo Invite
SITE: UniWyo Sports Complex - Laramie, Wyo.
TICKETS: GoWyo.com
STREAM: Mountain West Digital Network
RECORDS:
     UAlbany 3-6, 0-0 America East
     Utah 7-1, 0-0 Big 12
     Wyoming 6-2, 0-0 Mountain West
     Coppin State 4-8, 0-0 MEAC
 
UAlbany vs. Utah
DATE: Friday, September 20
TIME: 12:00 PM ET
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: StatBroadcast
 
UAlbany at Wyoming
DATE: Friday, September 20
TIME: 8:30 PM ET
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: StatBroadcast
 
UAlbany vs. Coppin State
DATE: Saturday, September 21
TIME: 12:00 PM ET
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: StatBroadcast

*records as of 9/19
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes played in three matches at the Dog Pound Challenge hosted by UConn (Sept. 13-14).
• On Friday, September 13, UAlbany matched up against Dartmouth in a thriller but eventually fell in the fifth set. Redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk led the offense with 15 kills and redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek had a match- and career-high 31 digs.
• The Great Danes competed in two matches on Saturday, September 14, against Delaware State and UConn. In the first match against Delaware State, UAlbany fell in four sets. Later that day, the Great Danes forced five sets against the undefeated Huskies but UConn finished with the win.
• Overall, Woroniuk led the weekend with 50 kills (3.57/set) and freshman Maria Olga Siapani had a whopping 119 assists (8.50/set). On defense, Malek tallied 75 digs (5.36/set) and redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman led with 11 blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 3-6 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.
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the Great Danes with 3.56 kills per set and 3.86 points per set.
• On defense, senior Sthefany Carvalho has tallied a conference-high 4.29 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani leads the America East with 8.56 assists per set and leads the team with 12 service aces.
• Gabriella Karman has totaled double-digit blocks, leading the team with 30 total blocks.

BUILDING ON GREATNESS

• The Great Danes welcomed 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 UTAH

• The Utes are 7-1 on the season after three weekends of play.
• Utah opened the season hosting the Utah Classic. They swept the weekend with wins against UTEP (Aug. 30), Utah State (Aug. 31), and Green Bay (Sept. 1).
• The Utes played two exhibition matches against California (Sept. 5) and #8 Purdue (Sept. 6). After winning against California, Utah fell to #8 Purdue.
• Last weekend at the Loyola Chicago Tournament, the Utes won two matches against Loyola University (Sept. 13-14) and swept Northeastern (Sept. 15). 
• Kamryn Gibadlo leads the team with 3.31 kills per set, a .314 hitting percentage, and 14 service aces.
• Vanessa Ramirez tops the defense with 3.38 digs per set.
• Allie Olsen owns the team-high with 29.0 total blocks.

SERIES THE UTES

•  This will be the first match between the Great Danes and the Utes.

ABOUT WYOMING

• The Cowgirls are 6-2 after three regular-season tournaments.
• Wyoming opened the season at the Omaha Tournament where they defeated Washington State (Aug. 30) and Omaha (Aug. 31).
• At the Akron-CSU Co-Tournament, the Cowgirls competed in three matches and captured three wins against UTRGV (Sept. 6), Akron (Sept. 6), and Cleveland State (Sept. 7).
• Wyoming found their only losses of the season at the Buffs Invitational against California (Sept. 13) and UC Irvine (Sept. 14) but took a win against the hosts, Colorado (Sept. 15).
• Paige Luterwasser leads the team with 3.00 kills per set.
• On defense, Sierra Grizzle owns a team-high 4.27 digs per set and 12 service aces.
• Kayla Mazzocca tops the team with 49 total blocks, including nine solo blocks.
• Kasia Partyka is the starting setter with 318 assists (9.64 a/s).

SERIES AGAINST THE COWGIRLS

•  This is the first time the Cowgirls and the Great Danes will face off.

ABOUT COPPIN STATE

• The Eagles are 4-8 on the season.
• Starting the season at the Red Storm Invitational (Aug. 30-31), CSU defeated Northeastern and Central Connecticut State in three sets but fell to St. John's.
• The Eagles visited American (Sept. 4) where they lost in straight sets.
• At the Chick-fil-A Robinson Classic, CSU fell to the host Robert Morris and Duquesne (Sept. 6) before earning a win against Niagara (Sept. 7) in a sweep.
• The Eagles hosted Penn on Tuesday, September 10, where they won in five sets.
• Last weekend at the Towson Invitational (Sept. 13-14), CSU faced four losses against Seton Hall, Towson, Lehigh, and Loyola Maryland.
• TaKenya Stafford leads the team with 3.38 kills per set.
• Coco Figueroa tops the defense with 3.31 digs per set.
• Sophia Bertotti Metoyer owns a team-high with 27 total blocks.
• Kahea Carvalho serves as the team's starting setter with 6.38 assists per set.

SERIES AGAINST THE EAGLES

• This will be the first meeting between the Great Danes and the Eagles.

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Thursday:
  • New Hampshire vs. UConn, 6 PM
• Friday:
  • UAlbany vs. Utah, 12 PM
  • New Hampshire vs. CCSU, 1 PM
  • Bryant vs. LIU, 1 PM
  • Bryant vs. Iona, 4 PM
  • Binghamton at Fordham, 4 PM
  • NJIT vs. George Washington, 4 PM
  • UMBC vs. High Point, 5 PM
  • UAlbany at Wyoming, 8:30 PM
• Saturday:
  • NJIT vs. Harvard, 11 AM
  • New Hampshire vs. Brown, 11:30 AM
  • UAlbany vs. Coppin State, 12 PM
  • Binghamton vs. West Virginia, 2 PM
  • Bryant at St. John's, 2 PM
  • UMBC vs. Princeton, 5 PM
  • NJIT at Delaware State, 7 PM

UP NEXT: Following the completion of the UniWyo Invite, the Great Danes will begin conference play at Binghamton on Friday, September 27.
 
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