ALBANY, N.Y. - The Great Danes kick off conference play with matches at Binghamton on Friday, September 27, and at home against New Hampshire on Sunday, September 29.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany at Binghamton
DATE: Friday, September 27
TIME: 6:00 PM
SITE: Events Center - Vestal, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 4-8, 0-0 AE | Binghamton 9-5, 0-0 AE
SERIES RECORD: 28-11, UAlbany leads
STATS: BinghamtonBearcats.com
STREAM: ESPN+
 
UAlbany vs. New Hampshire
DATE: Sunday, September 29
TIME: 3:00 PM
SITE: PE Gym - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 4-8, 0-0 AE | New Hampshire 7-6, 0-0 AE
SERIES RECORD: 20-16, UAlbany leads
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
STREAM: AE.TV

*records as of 9.26
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes traveled to Wyoming for the UniWyo Invite (Sept. 20-21).
• On Friday, September 20, UAlbany matched up against Utah and Wyoming In the first match against Utah, UAlbany fell in four sets. In the Great Danes' night match against Wyoming, the Cowgirls took the match in three sets.
• The Great Danes swept Coppin State to close out the UniWyo Invite on Saturday, September 21. Junior Anna Myhal led the team with 17 kills and freshman Maria Olga Siapani led with 14 digs and 34 assists.
• Overall, redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk led the weekend with 31 kills (3.10/set) and Siapani had 85 assists (8.50/set). On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek and Siapani tallied 34 digs each (3.40/set) and junior Tori Wilson led with 10 blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 4-8 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).
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the Great Danes with 3.46 kills per set and 3.78 points per set.
• On defense, senior Sthefany Carvalho has tallied a team-high 3.82 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani leads the America East with 8.54 assists per set and leads the team with 13 service aces.
• Redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman has totaled double-digit blocks, leading the team with 30 total blocks.

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 9-5 heading into America East conference play.
• 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).
• Tsvetelina Ilieva leads the Bearcats with 4.25 kills per set and 22 service aces.
• Emily Cronkhite leads the defense with 3.23 digs per set and Misa Dlouha leads with 76 blocks.
• Lottie Scully is second in the America East with 6.90 assists per set.

SERIES AGAINST THE BEARCATS

• The Great Danes lead the all-time series, 35-16.
• UAlbany squared off against the Bearcats twice last season with Binghamton taking both victories.
• Opposite hitter Shynelle Woroniuk led the Great Danes in both matches with 13 kills in their first meeting (Oct. 15) and 15 when the team visited Binghamton (Oct. 27).

ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE

• UNH will head into America East conference play with a 7-6 record.
• The Wildcats opened the season at the LSU Invitational, where they suffered losses to LSU (Aug. 30) and Troy (Aug. 30) but secured a win against Maryland (Aug. 31).
• At the Harvard Invitational, UNH bounced back with consecutive victories against Merrimack (Sept. 6) and Stonehill (Sept. 7) before losing a close match to Harvard (Sept. 7).
• The Wildcats traveled to the Texas A&M Invitational (Sept. 13-15) and earned a victory against Louisiana (Sep. 13) but were defeated by Texas A&M (Sep. 14) and Temple (Sep. 15).
• At the Holly Young Invitational, UNH suffered a loss to UConn (Sep. 19) but finished strong with wins over CCSU (Sep. 20) and Brown (Sep. 21).
• On September 24, the Wildcats got a win at home against Merrimack. 
• UNH will wrap up pre-conference play this Friday, September 27 at home against Le Moyne.

SERIES AGAINST THE WILDCATS

• The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 32-30.
• UAlbany faced off against New Hampshire twice last season.
• UHN was able to take two four-set victories in these matchups.
• Shynelle Woroniuk led among all hitters in the teams first match (Oct. 20) with 15 kills and middle blocker Gabriella Karman led with 10 in their second meeting (Nov. 5)

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Friday:
  • UAlbany at Binghamton, 6 PM
  • Le Moyne at New Hampshire, 6 PM
  • NJIT at Bryant, 7 PM
• Saturday:
  • Dartmouth at Bryant, 4 PM
• Sunday:
  • LIU at Binghamton, 1 PM
  • UMBC at NJIT, 3 PM
  • New Hampshire at UAlbany, 3 PM

UP NEXT: Following their match up against UNH, the Great Danes will compete in a mid-week match against Le Moyne at home as they host their Spread Respect night.
 
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