Volleyball Update from Coach Sheffield

[Dane Pound]

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

It was another great week for the Great Danes as we won our second consecutive tournament title. Junior outside Shelby Goldman was virtually unstoppable in the first match against Fairfield. Her 16 kills on 32 swings for a .406 hitting percentage led the way to a convincing 3-0 sweep against the home team. Defensively, we played very well and had 13 more digs and matched them with 7 blocks.

 

The second match was a 3-0 win against Long Island, who was an NCAA tournament team last year. LIU's style of play can be difficult to play against, but we were very good defensively and our middles (Ashlee Reed and Ashley Crenshaw) were having their way. The third match was a 3-0 win against Columbia. Senior defensive specialist Eileen Rodriguez led the way with 7 aces. Shelby Goldman and junior setter Blair Buchanan were both named to the All-Tournament team, while junior libero Ashley DeNeal was named tournament MVP. Following her performance, Blair Buchanan was named America East Conference Setter of the Week for the third time this season.

 

This is what Shelby Goldman had to say about the weekend: "We captured our second tournament trophy this past weekend beating Fairfield, Long Island and Columbia three games to zero in each contest. We really pulled together as a team this weekend capturing each game with certain confidence no matter what the stats. We are really starting to develop into a mature and poised team capable of obtaining great things."

 

This coming Friday we begin our quest for a second consecutive conference championship as we open conference play at home against Stony Brook. Match time is 7:00 pm. We then play at city-rival Siena next Tuesday at 7:00.

 

I'd also like to thank those of you that have been match sponsors for our Hurricane Relief efforts. We have set a goal of raising $4000 and think that we will be able to reach that number.

 

Thanks for all of your support and I hope to see you in the stands!

[GODANESGO]

Following their Tourney victory, Pablo has UAlbany tied for 56th in their latest rankings update. Maybe with a few more conference wins in a row under the ladies' belt, we just might be able to crack the top 50.

[UAalum72]

Everybody else in conf. is over 200. AEast avg. is 209, about 20-23 out of 31? conferences. Conf. wins won't move us up the rankings much, just keep winning and hope a few above us tank.

 

Cal. and Ohio are 15 and 17.

[alum73]

Latest update:

 

 

 

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

 

 

It was a short, but productive week for the Great Danes this week as we opened up conference play with a 3-0 (30-19, 30-23, 30-17) win at home over Stony Brook on Friday. The win gives us a 13 and 2 start to the season. It was a very balanced performance for the team. It might have been our best passing match of the season to date, which allowed us to be very diverse with our offense. In the back-row, Ashley DeNeal, Eileen Rodriguez, and Kristin Fiorillo did a great job for us defensively. This is junior setter Blair Buchanan's thoughts following the match, "Our conference opener this past weekend against Stony Brook was a great way for us to set a tone to the other teams in our conference. Our passers had the best passing and ball control match of the season. Shelby Goldman hammered the ball with 14 kills and a match-high .393 hitting percentage. I am excited to meet cross-town rival Siena Tuesday night and continue conference play this weekend against New Hampshire and Binghamton."

 

 

 

Without school for most of this week, we are going into a "mini preseason" and get a couple of short practices in per day. On Tuesday we head to cross-town rival Siena for a 7:00 match. Although this is an out-of-conference match, the team understands the importance of this match to the UAlbany faithful and is very excited about showing the differences in the two programs.

 

 

 

This weekend is a big weekend for a number of reasons. First of all, former player Rafaela Nikas ('98) will be inducted into the UAlbany Hall of Fame on Friday. Also on Friday, we are at New Hampshire for our first conference road game. Great Dane fans can listen to the radio broadcast of the game. A link should be provided on our web-site. On Sunday, we are back on the road at Binghamton for a 2:00 match time.

 

 

 

Thanks for all of your support and we hope to see you in the stands soon!

 

 

 

Northeast Region Rankings:

 

1) Louisville, 2) Notre Dame, 3) UALBANY, 4) Cornell, 5) Villanova, 6) Pittsburgh, 7) St. John's, 8) Cincinnati, 9) Syracuse,

 

10) Fordham

 

 

 

10/7 @ New Hampshire Radio/Internet http://sports.yahoo.com/top/collegebroadcast/teams/nal

 

10/18 vs UConn Radio/Internet UAlbany radio station WCDB 90.9

 

10/28 @ UMBC Gametracker (live stats)

 

10/29 @ Stony Brook Gametracker (live stats)

 

11/1 vs Syracuse Radio/Internet UAlbany radio station WCDB 90.9

 

11/4 vs New Hampshire Radio/Internet UAlbany radio station WCDB 90.9

 

 

 

GO DANES!!!

 

 

Kelly Sheffield

Head Volleyball Coach

[alumni '92']

thank you to Coach Sheffield for again taking the time to provide updates on the team ...

On Tuesday we head to cross-town rival Siena for a 7:00 match. Although this is an out-of-conference match, the team understands the importance of this match to the UAlbany faithful and is very excited about showing the differences in the two programs. - Coach Kelly Sheffield

glad to see that the team/coaching staff recognizes the significance of head-to-head non-conference matchups w/siena ... we will make an attempt top get out to see it in person

[Dane Pound]

Northeast Region Rankings:

 

1) Louisville, 2) Notre Dame, 3) UALBANY, 4) Cornell, 5) Villanova, 6) Pittsburgh, 7) St. John's, 8) Cincinnati, 9) Syracuse, 10) Fordham

 

I truly doubt the people of Louisville consider themselves to be part of the northeast. Considering where the program was just a few years ago it's pretty impressive to see a ranking where they are listed above schools like Syracuse, Cincinnati. Pitt and Villanova.

[alum73]

Where's Penn State? I guess the ND and Louisville are now east (big east), and penn st. is midwest (big 10). Knd of weird.

[DaneFan2k3]

They put you in the regions by conference. I remember asking this a couple of years ago.

 

The reasoning supposedly is that if you put them by actual geography, you could have a team ranked higher in its respective region than a team ahead of it in the conference standings (and that just happens to play in a better/deeper region).

 

i.e. you could have UAlbany ahead of UMBC in the standings, and ranked 3 in the Northeast but (purely hypothetical) have UMBC ranked 2 in a weaker mid-atlantic region (dont know if that is a real region I made it up for illustrative purposes).

 

Hence, Louisville goes with the Big East, and Penn State to wherever its league aligns in the region rankings.

[GreatDanes06]

you know i really wish UAlbany would get with St. John's and Notre Dame when it came to Athletics. Id love to play them in basketball, i know they played them in lacrosse this weekend at the Baltimore tourny. Vollyball would be good also. Baseball would be an awesome match up as well.

[DaneMan]

you know i really wish UAlbany would get with St. John's and Notre Dame when it came to Athletics. Id love to play them in basketball, i know they played them in lacrosse this weekend at the Baltimore tourny. Vollyball would be good also. Baseball would be an awesome match up as well.

9687[/snapback]

 

Um, why would Volleyball and baseball be good match ups with ND? ND's volleyball is 10th in the country and the baseball team has made the NCAA Tournament the last several years. Or were you talking about strictly for the fans? If it's for point #2, ND is never coming to UAlbany's campus, Albany would have to play in South Bend for those games to occur.

[GreatDanes06]

A NOTE TO WHAT COACH SHEFFIELD WROTE:

 

WCDB WILL BE DOING THE BINGHAMTON GAME ON 10/23 AS WELL (NOT ON HIS SCHED IN THE UPDATE).

 

TO SEE WCDB'S ATHLETIC SCHED GO TO wcdb.albany.edu AND CLICK ON THE EVENTS SECTION ON THE FRONT PAGE...ITS GOT A HOLE LIST OF GAMES WE ARE COVERING

[Dane Pound]

Latest update from Coach Sheffield:

 

Dear Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany volleyball:

 

An up and down week for the Great Danes this past week. We opened up with a 3-0 sweep at Siena on Tuesday. For most of the match we played very well. They had a lot of difficulties with our serves and we passed the ball beautifully. In the match, senior middle Ashlee Reed surpassed 1000 kills for her career. She's only the 7th UAlbany player to reach that milestone. Ash has meant so much to the growth of this program and is the type of person that we want associated with the program. It is great to see her obtain this accomplishment. Also on Tuesday, junior setter Blair Buchanan moved into second place on the all-time career assists charts, surpassing Vanessa Docharty (87-89, 91). Although most of our players are from outside of the capital district, they certainly understand that losing to Siena is not an option. For most of the night, we played that way.

 

On Friday, we traveled to New Hampshire. On the scoreboard, it appeared to be a blowout (30-19, 30-18, 30-19), but it certainly didn't feel that way. In each game, the first third of the game was neck-and-neck until we would get on a big run. It was the third match in a row that we held the opposing team's best hitter to under .100 hitting percentage. We've been matching senior Ashley Green on the opposing team's best attacker, and she's been absolutely shutting them down.

 

On Sunday, we were at Binghamton. Up to this point, they've probably been the surprise team in the conference. Both teams went into the match undefeated in conference play. The Bearcats ended up beating us in four games (30-26, 23-30, 32-30, 31-29). The combination of us not playing very well, and them putting together a nice match was too much for us to overcome. We consider ourselves an experienced team with 8 seniors and juniors, however, Binghamton, without a senior on their roster, was the team that performed with more purpose and poise at the end of games. Ashley Green's perspective following the match: "We are not taking this disappointing loss lightly and it has made an imprint in our hearts and minds. Although we are very upset by this game, it has brought on a renewed commitment by our team to work that much harder. We will come back from this a more focused and determined team that will accomplish all the goals that we have set for ourselves this season."

 

One of the things that this team does well, is to respond following a loss. Our next match is this Friday against Hartford. We also have upcoming home matches this Saturday against UMBC, and next Tuesday against UConn. All three match times begin at 7:00.

 

Congratulations goes out once again to Rafaela Nikas ('98) for being inducted into the UAlbany Hall of Fame on Friday night. She still owns season (566) and career (1607) marks in digs and is currently 9th in all-time service aces with 123. Congratulations Rafaela!

 

Thanks for all of your support. Let's pack the PE Gym and make some noise this weekend!!!

 

Best wishes & GO DANES!!!

[alum73]

Alumni, Friends, and Family of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

 

 

Hello! This past week in practice has been spent on defense, defense, and defense following our loss to Binghamton. We came back this weekend a much tougher team against Hartford and UMBC. We responded very well on Friday against Hartford winning 3-0 and hitting an eye-popping .432 for the match. Against UMBC we started off rather well, but then had some serving and passing breakdowns in game 3 and part of game 4. But when it came time to make plays, the crowd got energetic and we made a couple of blocks and timely digs to win the last six points of the match. Junior outside hitter Shelby Goldman had a huge weekend averaging almost 5 kills per game and hitting .544. Her 6th kill on Friday had her join an elite list of players on the 1000 career kills plateau (joining Patty Munhall-Blacklock, Alissa Gibbs, Rafaela Nikas, Julie Arbitman, Kristine Gerg, Chris Hofer, and Ashlee Reed). Also this weekend, senior defensive specialist Eileen Rodriguez served her 500 career ace. She's looking to become the NCAA All-Division leader sometime within the next few weeks which stands at 533. For their accomplishments, Shelby Goldman was named America East Conference Player of the week, and junior setter Blair Buchanan was named conference setter of the week. This is junior defensive specialist Kristin Fiorillo's perspective: "Things are starting to get really exciting. Our team is at a point where all the hard work we've put in this year is REALLY starting to show. It seems like every match we play, someone is having a breakout game."

 

 

 

A big week is upon us. Tonight we host UConn at 7:00. And then we hit the road for a Friday night match at Maine, before coming back home and trying to get a little revenge on Binghamton on Sunday at 2:00. I told the team yesterday that if they weren't excited about this week, then they need to find something else to do. Hopefully we'll see many of you in the stands tonight and on Sunday, but if you can't make it, you can listen to the radio broadcast by going to the UAlbany web-site.

[alum73]

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball,

 

 

 

Hello! I hope this finds each of you doing well. We had three matches this week. On Tuesday we played UConn for the first time in program history. We played very well in every aspect of the game, and dominated them on the scoreboard (30-26, 30-18, 30-21)as well as in the stats (.337 hitting percentage for the Danes to .097 for the Huskies). UConn is a very physical team, and we knew that we would have to have tremendous ball control and serving to win this match - which we did. For the second time all year, we did not have a reception error and we put a lot of pressure on them with our serving.

 

 

 

On Friday we were up in Maine. Last year we went up there and came home with a five game loss. This year was a little different. I'm not sure we were ever in a rhythm all night, which has usually meant trouble in the past, but we battled tough. Game one we came back from a pretty big deficit late to pull it out. Junior libero Ashley DeNeal put on a show in the back-court picking up 24 digs in the 3 game win (30-28, 30-27, 30-26) and all of our passers did a tremendous job with their tough servers. During the match, senior middle Ashlee Reed picked up her 1000th career dig. She became only the third player in program history to have 1000 kills and 1000 digs, joining Rafaela Nikas ('94-'97) and Julie Arbitman ('97-'00).

 

 

 

On Sunday we were back at home playing first place Binghamton. We lost to them at their place a couple of weeks ago, and we were certainly motivated to see them again. We had great contributions from everyone on the team and won 3-0 (30-19, 30-26, 30-15). Ashlee Reed was a consistent force for us all day with 16 kills and hitting .481. Ashlee DeNeal was an absolute stud with her defense in the first two games, and senior defensive specialist Eileen Rodriguez pretty much put a clamp on things in the third with her serving.

 

 

 

Ashley DeNeal's perspective on things: "I think Coach said it best when he entered practice on Monday and posed us with the question, 'Who's excited for this week? Because if you can't get excited about volleyball this week, then you shouldn't be around it!' I have never seen the team get more excited than what we were heading into the UConn match and it definitely showed. We started out great and never looked back. The most amazing part was that we were able to carry over that same energy for our next two matches as well. All three wins this past week were huge for our team confidence! There is definitely a renewed spark as we continue to work towards reaching our goals!"

 

 

 

This coming week will be a challenging one travel-wise as we bus down to Baltimore to play UMBC on Friday and then to Long Island to play Stony Brook on Saturday. Our next home match will be next Tuesday at 7:00 against Syracuse. We hope to see many of you at the match. If you can't be in attendance but are in the capital district, Time Warner Cable (ch. 3) will be covering the match, and if you are outside of the area, you can listen to WCDB's broadcast on the internet.

 

 

 

Also, there's a nice little article on "The 5 Ashley's" on the school web-site at www.albany.edu.

[UAalum72]

Article on the volleyball team in today's Gazette

 

Sheffield: 'The team has become much more determined the last few weeks, after we took it on the chin in a match at Binghamton'

 

'... the improvement is both physical and mental'.

 

'When you take the next step, you have to go beyond what is comfortable'

 

'We are as balanced a team as there is in the Northeast'

 

'Blair is starting to get a better grasp of the game. She's starting to show a little more creativity running the offense ... she is getting better every week'.

 

 

 

Is it usual for volleyball teams to have matches scheduled AFTER the conference tournament? Is there a long gap between the AEast and NCAA tournaments?