University at Albany Great Danes

LOCATION: Newman Arena - Ithaca, N.Y.

SHORT STORY: In the second five-set thriller of the season, the Great Danes found victory in a nail-biting matchup against Cornell before collecting their first sweep against Howard, Saturday afternoon.

GAME ONE

SCORE: UAlbany 3, Cornell 2 (23-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 18-16)

RECORDS: UAlbany 1-4, 0-0 AE | Cornell 1-1, 0-0 Ivy League 

KEY STATS

• With a season-high 15 kills, junior outside hitter Pinar Erol took the top spot in the category. Senior middle blocker Campbell Robinson followed with 12. 
• Erol acquired the top spot in aces with three.
• Junior middle blocker Mina Benucci and freshman setter Addy Bianchini led the team with seven blocks each.
• Bianchini also contributed a team-high 36 assists. 
• Junior libero Kasia Barletta was credited with 20 digs. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• UAlbany earned the first two points in set one, but Cornell answered with a five-point run and acquired the lead.
• The Great Danes answered to cut the deficit and a service ace by Campbell Robinson tied the first set, 16-16.
• In the second half of set one, UAlbany and Cornell played an extremely close game, but the Big Red came out on top, 25-23. 
• At the half for set two, the Great Danes gained momentum 15-11 as they earned a four-point advantage.
• The Big Red slowly crept up on the Great Danes, but UAlbany secured the set-two win, 25-21. 
• UAlbany jumped out to a hot start in set three in a very competitive matchup.
• Cornell put up a fight and equalized the set, 10-10.
• At 19-16, the Great Danes were up by three, but Cornell tied things up once more. 
• Cornell completed the comeback, and held a 2-1 set advantage over UAlbany.
• After scoring four consecutive points, the Great Danes found momentum once again in set four, 13-9. 
• The Big Red fought back to steal the lead, 19-18, after trailing by four. However, the Great Danes denied another comeback and forced a fifth set.   
• The fifth set started neck-and-neck and continued as the team forced extra points.
• Tied at 16-16, a kill from Lily Lott put UAlbany in front as they went on to seal the set, 18-16, to win the match.

GAME TWO

SCORE: UAlbany 3, Howard 0 (25-22, 25-22, 29-27)

RECORDS: UAlbany 2-4, 0-0 AE | Howard 0-5, 0-0 MEAC

KEY STATS

• Freshman outside hitter Lily Lott earned a team-high 13 kills. Pinar Erol was close behind with 10. 
• Senior setter Madison Hess earned two blocks. Campbell Robinson and Erol each obtained one block. 
• Hess served as the team's primary setter and contributed 29 assists.
• Freshman defensive specialist Madison Kyle had two aces.
• Kasia Barletta obtained 17 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Howard had a strong start to open the match, as they put up a four-point run, but UAlbany then responded with seven unanswered points and tied the set, 11-11.
• After trailing by six points, the Great Danes found their groove and won the first set.
• The first half of the second set was close between UAlbany and Howard, however, at 17-12, the Great Danes had collected a five-point lead. 
• The Bisons closed in on UAlbany's lead as they earned four-points of their own, but an overturned call gave the second set to the Great Danes, 25-22.
• To open the third set, the Bisons showed fire going on a 6-1 scoring run and gained the advantage. 
• The game started to slip away from UAlbany as Howard continued to dominate at 17-10, but they later came back and tied the set, 21-21.
• It was back-and-forth to close out the set as the Bisons and the Great Danes forced extra points before UAlbany sealed the sweep, 29-27.

NEXT: The Great Danes will continue on the road heading to Hamilton for the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament (Sept. 11-13). 

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