Dane Pound

Alumni, Friends, and Family of UAlbany Volleyball: This past weekend we faced a long traveling weekend. First making the 8 hour bus ride up to Orono, Maine Thursday for a Friday night match against the Black Bears of Maine and then down to Durham, New Hampshire for a Sunday match against UNH. Although the trip ends up being a long time spent on a bus (and in hotel rooms), it also allows us a lot of time to studying. Our match against Maine we found ourselves in a battle from the first point. Both teams came out of the gates playing very well. Game 1 went to the Black Bears 30-28. The next two games were also tight as we were able to win both 30-27, 33-31. They were going hard after Kristin Fiorillo (Sr. Painted Post, NY) and she was doing an awesome job of handling the pressure and allowed us to get the ball to our middles. Ashley Crenshaw (Jr. Birmingham, AL), Kamisha Kellam (So. Forestville, MD), and Hillary White (So. Aberdeen, SD) were absolutely huge for us. 'Bama Crenshaw and 'Mish Kellam got a lot of swings for us early which opened up a lot of the court for Hillary late. We kept our errors down and our passing was great and we got on a roll in the fourth running away with a 30-16 win. On Sunday we played UNH and again found ourselves in one heck of a battle. We had more Kills, Digs, Blocks, and hit for a higher percentage in the match and still ended up losing a 5 game marathon (26-30, 30-25, 26-30, 30-28, 13-15). The deal.... too many service errors at critical times, and a few uncharacteristic errors. We are now through the first half of the conference schedule and we know this about ourselves. 1) We are getting better by the week. And, 2) this team is willing to do whatever it takes to win another conference championship. We have a great group of seniors that are amazing leaders and they usually respond the right way following a loss. This is what senior Ashley DeNeal had to say following the weekend: "Our win over Maine this past weekend was huge. Our team really did a great job of battling. Kristin especially stepped in against a tough serving team and really had a great night passing. Not being able to pull out the match with New Hampshire was pretty disappointing, but I am excited that in a little over a week we get another shot at them. The second round of conference this year is going to come down to which team wants it the most, who is willing to work the hardest, and who believes in themselves." This coming week we've got one match at UMBC on Sunday. Our next home match will be Saturday the 28th with a re-match against UNH. Hope things are well with you all and talk to you soon! GO GREAT DANES!!!

Ivory commits to Albany - Saratogian

Another story in today's paper about Ross and Knight. Transfers are quick studies - TU

I found out last night that "closed" really meant closed. Doors to the old gym were locked and even the window was papered over in old gym. I figured "closed to the public" meant everybody but me and people from the BPF. I used to watch practices all the time at the RACC while putting in some miles on the track but I guess those days are over now that we've gone big-time into the dance and everything I'll just have to wait another week, dammit!

Yes, all sports.

NM

Danes are hoping to keep point sharp-TU On the front page there's also a story about Siena adding size to their line-up. It talks about additions to their roster who are over 200 pounds and 6"5. The same size as our point guard.

Albany did make Bryan Armen Graham's Sixty-five things you need to know about the upcoming college basketball season

Good story in today's TU. Dane to the end

Did anyone go last night? Any scoops?

Gone a long way and come a long way since then. The exhibition games in Poland games were the ones I had in mind when I posted. No doubt Cal was the furthest regular reason game until maybe we get invited to the Great Alaska Shootout.

I'll second that Fido. I feel the same way about Coach Brown's blog as well. It gives us some further insight into these two programs that we wouldn't know about otherwise. It would be great if other UA coaches did something similar. Many thanks to both coaches for taking the time to do so.

I'm not sure if I know the trips to Germany. Did they play a game there? I'm pretty sure Cal isn't the longest distance.

What's the furthest from Albany any UA team has travelled to play a game or match? Bonus question: Did Bob87 make that road trip?

It'll be great to finally see some of the guys we've been talking about actually play in the scrimmage next week!!! Looking at that conference schedule in January where they've bunched games together in clumps we're going to need all the depth we can. If everyone's schedule is similar than it may actually favor a team like this. A couple of years ago when we were paper thin that stretch of four games in seven days would have killed us. Now it shouldn't be so bad. I'm probably making too much of it but in Coach Brown's blog over the summer it sounded like they were toying with the idea of Knight at PG. I would guess he would back-up Lillis in that case. I envision Siggers being the guy who will guard the other teams best perimiter player with Ross coming off the bench to take over that role. No matter what it'll be a good sign if all 14 guys make these decisions on who to play as tough as possible on the coaching staff.

Dear Alumni, Family and Friends of UAlbany Volleyball: This past weekend we hosted Stony Brook and Hartford on the new and improved PE Building floor. The Stony Brook match was a barnburner. The Danes jumped out to a 2-0 lead winning 30-26, and 30-26. The Seawolves got back in the match by winning games 3 and 4 to force us into a deciding 5th game for the fourth time this season. And for the 4th time this season the 'good guys' were able to prevail winning 15-10 in the 5th. Our left-sides carried us for most of the match. Ashley DeNeal was huge for us early and finished with 15 kills and 11 digs. And Shelby Goldman was awesome late finishing with 26 kills and 16 digs. The team was very determined late in the match and really played some great volleyball. On Saturday we came out of the gates quickly and never let up beating a young Hartford team in three (30-18, 30-16, 30-18). Other than their smaller outside hitter getting a couple of service runs going, we passed the ball exceptionally against a very good serving team. Four of our five hitters had over a .300 hitting percentage - which is exceptional! This is what one of our captains, Kristin Fiorillo, had to say about the weekend: "This weekend was really fun for our team. Playing Hartford and especially Stony Brook brought out the competitive and fun edge we seemed to be lacking. Looking ahead to this weekend is more exciting still. We'll be traveling to New Hampshire and Maine to continue our winning streak and build on our rising competitive personality as a team". Last week it was brought to my attention that the e-mail address to join the booster club was wrong. So, here's the correct one: uavb.booster@gmail.com GO GREAT DANES!!!

That's good news about Connelly although he wasn't exactly Herman Banks last year. It's been astounding to me how un-high school looking our last few recruiting classes have looked strength-wise. I guess many of them start weight training programs coming into college if not before.

REVERSE THE CURSE!!!! Fireworks or not we are winning the scrimmage before the football game.

That's a surprising amount of comments. I didn't know the Business Review site got that many hits. In any event the support of those people is exactly what this kind of project would need. Seems like a lot of them get that it wouldn't just be about college football. A new stadium could host HS football playoffs, concerts, etc.

I couldnt find the story you were referring to on-line. I did find a story on the UA-$iena soccer game and I liked the opening paragraph: "UAlbany men's soccer added another notch to the belt that has been used to whip crosstown rival Siena in nearly every sport thus far this fall season, prevailing 3-1 in front of a listed attendance of 200 at Varsity Field on Wednesday." That's poetry right there.

The use of bedouin in your post brought that from a very good post to a great one. Dr. McElroy and Fiore are taking different paths to hopefully get to the same place eventually. When the two of them split in opinion I'm going with Dr. McElroy every time.

Tim Ambrose: An Exciting Player To Watch Tim Ambrose By Mike Sullivan Publisher Posted Jun 1, 2006 Tim Ambrose is a delight to watch. The Our Savior New American guard is an athletic wonder who can sky over bigger bodies despite not being more than 6-foot tall. Ambrose is expected to compete this summer with the New York Elite ... Tim Ambrose is a delight to watch. He is an athletic guard who can dazzle a defender with his speed, strength or athletic skills. Ambrose, a 6-foot 2007 recruit played last season at Our Savior New American in Centereach, N.Y. It's likely that Tim will be at a prep school this Fall. Ambrose already has some college offers on the table. "Albany, Stony Brook, and Fordham have offered," Ambrose said in our last conversation. "But I am not sure what I will do." The staff of the New York Elite indicate that Tim is still open and searching for a prep school. Ambrose stated recently that he is interested in Notre Dame Prep, Stoneridge, and Patterson. Tim polished his game as a senior this past year under OSNA head coach Ron Stelzer. Earlier in the season there was some interest from schools like Southern Cal, St. John's, Georgetown, Clemson, and Fairfield. But no offers were made. Selects A School By Brian Towey of NewYorkInsider.com, June 19, 2006 at 8:44pm ET Tim Ambrose Profile While his eye-catching athleticism and scoring tools had afforded Tim Ambrose feelers from all kinds of Division I programs, a lack of a qualifying SAT score had left the scoring guard from Our Savior New American in limbo. On Monday, Ambrose settled on his future destination when he decided to enroll at the University of Albany in the fall as a partial qualifier, according to sources close to the situation. The commitment from the 5-foot-11 Ambrose represents something of a coup for the America East program, coming off of a heady performance against UConn in the first round of the NCAA tournament. An impressive physical specimen, Ambrose is a high major athlete, thickly built and an explosive leaper. He was one of the New York area's most exciting run-and-jump athletes this past winter, a player capable of playing above the rim despite his stature.

I didn't necessarily mean it as a trick question. I've really just been impressed how quickly the athletics programs have improved. A few years ago to have three teams with a winning record would have been a stretch and now there have been three getting top 25 votes - Amazing!

Just because you asked for it 84 - You must be smoking the wacki tobacci!!! (just kidding). I was curious to see you have Higy listed as a PF. I had thought she was more of an Alicia Learn type (SF) player. One of the bright spots I thought last year was Sterling at the power forward spot. Any chance Ironyura (good luck saying that on the radio BTW) starts at one of the guard spots?

I've never done it but I think they can help you out if you call them. I'm thinking about going to the Vermont game also. I tried to get there during the Copenwrath/Sorrentine years but they sold out the place. Probably not quite as big a demand now. BTW, Over the course of his career Jamar has won a game at every venue in the America East except Patrick Gym. I'm hoping that loose end gets tied up this year.