Volleyball Update from Coach Sheffield

[alum73]

Link to article

 

 

http://www.dailygazette.net/Repository/ml....ish-skin-custom

[alum73]

UAlbany Volleyball Alumni, Friends, and Family:

 

 

 

This past weekend presented different challenges for us, especially with the travel. We played at UMBC in Baltimore on Friday, and Stony Brook on Long Island on Saturday. Neither place have we played particularly well in the past. At UMBC, we started off a little slow in game one, but then picked things up about mid-way through and got into a nice groove from then on out. We won 3-0 (30-23, 30-19, 30-19) Junior outside hitter, Shelby Goldman (15 kills and .355 hitting percentage)and sophomore middle Ashley Crenshaw (10 kills and .500 hitting) were very difficult to stop for the first two games, and then in game three, freshman outside Kamisha Kellam (6 kills and .308 hitting percentage) came in from off the bench to close things out . During the match, junior setter Blair Buchanan passed Lisa Greiner ('95-'98) to become the all-time assist leader at UAlbany. I know UMBC fans are probably wondering why we have random team celebrations during our matches there, as last year on their home court was where Eileen Rodriguez broke the NCAA Division I career aces record.

 

 

 

The next morning, we left early to head to Stony Brook, but a bus problem made it a much longer and more difficult trip than we expected. The bus had to be taken to a shop to be fixed. While waiting, the team enjoyed a nice breakfast at a gas station across the street. The trip ended up being a 7 1/2 hour trip with us getting into Stony Brook 30 minutes prior to warm-up. Senior co-captain Ashlee Reed talked to the team before heading to the floor, letting them know that she wasn't going to except any excuses - play, play hard, and win - no matter what the travel circumstances were. It's exactly what you'd like to see from your leaders. Play got much better on our end as the match went on. Our passers (Ashley DeNeal, Kristin Fiorillo, Ashlee Reed, Eileen Rodriguez, and Allie Wolfe) did a great job controlling the ball all weekend, leading us to a 3-0 win (30-23, 30-21, 30-20). Blair Buchanan's perspective on the week: "This past weekend was one of the most rewarding considering the traveling circumstances. However, we were able to sweep UMBC and Stony Brook at their place, which was something that we have not been able to do in the past years. Even though each team we play brings their best match against us, once again we were able to step up and make a statement to other teams in our conference. These wins built our confidence and we are excited to play Syracuse this Tuesday, another top program in the northeast region."

 

 

Coming up this week, we've got Syracuse at home on Tuesday night at 7:00. The match will be televised by Time Warner in the capital district and the Syracuse area. The match will also be on WCDB radio station, which can be downloaded on their web-site or from the UAlbany web-site. Syracuse right now is in 3rd place in the Big East and are playing well. On Friday we host New Hampshire at 7:00. If you are in the area, come out and support the team. There's only a few more home matches remaining to see seniors Ashley Hunter, Ashley Green, Ashlee Reed, and Eileen Rodriguez.

 

 

Hope things are well and hope to see you on Tuesday!

 

 

GO DANES!!!

[alum73]

UAlbany Volleyball Alumni, Friends, and Family,

 

It was another great week for the volleyball program. On Tuesday we hosted Syracuse in front of a very large and energetic crowd. Early on, their deep float serves gave us a world of problems and kept us from siding-out (we shoot for 60% or higher and we were in the 40's), and we went into the lockerroom down 0-2 (21-30, 25-30). Regardless, I think the team felt like we were starting to get more comfortable passing as the games moved along, and that we were starting to play better. We changed the matchups and we came out playing very well in Game 3 - winning 30-17. Game 4 also went our way 30-2 to force the deciding 5th Game. Both teams played at a high level in the 5th. Syracuse had leads of 11-8 and 14-12, before we scored the final 4 points of the match to win. We had a lot of great contributions from people, including a very sick Kristin Fiorillo (junior defensive specialist) who had a career high 20 digs regardless of being ill. Coming back from an 0-2 deficit doesn't happen often, especially against a great team, but I'm not sure at any point any player on the team thought that we'd lose that match.

 

On Friday night, we hosted conference rival New Hampshire. They tried a lot of things to throw us off our game, including serving and hitting away from junior libero Ashley DeNeal and trying to hit at junior setter Blair Buchanan to try and take us out of our transition offense. In the end we were able to get things figured out and won 3-0 (30-19, 30-23, 30-27) and hit a very nice .325. Between games 2 and 3, former player Susan Spierre was honored for being named the 2004 America East Student-Athlete of the Year in the sport of volleyball. Susan was the second Great Dane volleyball player to win the award in the last three years, joining Alissa Gibbs who won it in 2002. Congratulations Susan! This is what sophomore middle Ashley Crenshaw had to say about the week: "This has been yet another AWESOME week of Volleyball. Tuesday's match against Syracuse was a great win for us. It gave us a little more competition and made us work harder for the win. We were able to dig in, stick together and in the end, come out victorious. I think that win carried over into Friday's match against UNH. Although some people were a little off that match we showed how strong we were, in that other people stepped up. This week was so much FUN and I am so excited about this next week!"

 

This is the final week of conference play. Our final regular-season home match is this coming Friday at 7:00 against Maine. I'm sure a lot of you remember the last time the Black Bears were in town. A win would clinch our second consecutive America East regular season championship and would mean that we would host the tournament the following weekend. The match will also be senior night, where we will honor Ashley Green (Indianapolis, IN), Ashley Hunter (Moreno Valley, CA), Ashlee Reed (Round Rock, TX), and Eileen Nicole Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico). These four players have meant so much to the Great Dane volleyball program. I hope that many of you will be able to show up early as we recognize these tremendous student-athletes. Following the match, the team will be signing posters for all that are interested.

 

The support has been growing as the season has progressed. We've turned University Gym into a tough place for opponents to play. Let's overwhelm the Black Bears on Friday night!

 

GO DANES!!!

[alum73]

Alumni, Friends and Family of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

The regular season ended this weekend with the Great Danes winning their second consecutive regular season crown. The weekend started off with Senior Night against Maine on Friday night. It was a chance to honor Ashley Green, Ashley Hunter, Eileen Nicole Rodriguez, and Ashlee Reed - players that have meant so much to our program. And those four put on quite a show that night! Reed led the way with 11 kills and hit .444; Hunter had 9 kills and hit .571; Green had 7 kills and .417; and Rodriguez had 4 aces, 7 digs, and one of her better passing matches. The four led the team to a 3 game sweep (30-23, 30-22, 30-13). Following the match, there was a reception in the Hall of Fame Room. I'd like to thank Eileen Daugherty for her generous donation in making the evening's festivities a possibility.

 

As much as Friday showed off our experience, Sunday's match at Hartford showed that the future will be in great hands with our younger players. Freshmen outside hitters Kamisha Kellam and Allie Wolfe both got their first career starts. Kellam led the team with a career high 13 kills and hit .632; Wolfe hit .600 for the match; and sophomore middle Ashley Crenshaw picked up 8 kills and hit .533 to lead the team to a 3-0 victory (30-21, 30-14, 30-14). This is what Eileen Rodriguez had to say: "We easily dominated both of our opponents this weekend. Our level of play keeps rising each time we go out there to play. Against Hartford two of our freshman, Kamisha and Allie started and had great matches which is proof that everyone's ready to play and we can rely on anyone to go out and do the their job when they are needed. We look forward for this weekend's opportunity to be back-to-back champions in our conference!"

 

Those matches close out an 11-1 regular season and brings us to the America East Conference Championships slated for this weekend.

 

Schedule

 

Friday 5:30 UAlbany v. Stony Brook

 

8:00 Binghamton v. Maine

 

Saturday 5:00 Championship Match

 

It should be a great weekend. Stony Brook has quite a bit of size along the net and one of the best young players in the conference in Morgan Sweeny. We're going to have to contain her to have success against the Seawolves. Binghamton brings the best blocking team in the conference. The first time we played them, they blocked us off the court. The second time we were able to run our offense in a way that put a lot of pressure on their blockers. Jackie Kane is a dynamic blocker and Katie Brody is the key to their offense on the outside. Maine is an unbelievable serving team and runs the quickest transition in the conference. They have a crafty setter in Shelly Seipp, a big-time middle in Shannon Fotter, and Kaili Jordan is as well-rounded of a player as there is in the conference. Being able to control the serves of the players that stand against the back wall will be key.

 

There you have it. For those of you coming into town, the conference has reserved rooms at the Marriott on Wolf Rd. for $99/night (contact Todd Carozza, Sales Manager, at 518-437-6335). Hopefully we'll see many of you in the stands this weekend!

 

GO DANES!!!

[alum73]

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

It was a tough weekend for the Great Danes this past weekend in the America East Conference Championships. I really liked the mentality the team had going in, and believed that we were ready to play our best volleyball of the year. Unfortunately injuries caught up with us. Senior outside-hitter, Ashley Hunter has a slight tear in her right shoulder and has been in a sling for the past week, and then senior defensive-specialist Eileen Rodriguez strained her Achilles during warm-ups prior to the match. Both of them played in the match, but were not able to perform at the level that they are both accustomed to. Regardless, we were still able to win Game 1. Then in Game 2, our other outside-hitter, junior Shelby Goldman, came down on a Stony Brook players' foot and ended her season. Three players proved to be a little too much as we lost in 5 games (30-26, 28-30, 30-22, 26-30, 12-15). It most certainly was not the way we envisioned the tournament going, but I thought the team handled the loss with class. Every one of them were there for the finals and were there to support Ashlee Reed as she picked up her All-Tournament award. We have two more matches this weekend against A-10 runner-up Temple, and NEC champion Long Island. We'll be without the services of Shelby Goldman and Ashley Hunter - our two most powerful attackers. But don't be surprised if we put up some competitive scores. This team has a lot of pride and will be playing hard. I've had some calls and e-mails asking about an At-Large berth. Unfortunately that's not going to be in the cards this year. There was an NCAA rep at the match and is very aware of the current health of our team. They are looking for teams that when they get in, could win a match or two. And although we have a winning record against NCAA teams this year, the injuries do not put us in a good position.

 

On a good note, the Great Danes cleaned up at the awards banquet on Friday night. Junior Blair Buchanan became the first player in NCAA history to be named Setter and Player of the Year in any conference twice. Junior Ashley DeNeal was named the libero of the year. Also on the 1st Team were senior Ashley Hunter, senior Ashlee Reed, and junior Shelby Goldman. Sophomore Ashley Crenshaw was honorable mention. Also last week, Reed, DeNeal, and Goldman were named to the six-player America East All-Academic Team. We also found out that the team record is the best in conference history and the six all-conference selections also set an all-time high.

 

I hope you all have a tremendous Thanksgiving!

 

GO DANES!!!

[UAalum72]

Congratulations to the volleyball team beating Temple and NEC champion LIU this weekend to finish with 28 wins. Good recovery after the disappointment of the AE tourney.

 

E-Rod had 8 aces over the weekend. What's her final total (assuming there's no at-large bid)?

[GreatDanes06]

well the tournament field is announced sunday...

 

we can hope, but lets see

[alum73]

11/29/05

 

Friends, Family, and Alumni of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

The 2005 season has come to a close with our weekend matches against A-10 runner-up Temple and NEC champion Long Island this past weekend. We were able to defeat a very good Temple team 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-27) and LIU 3-1 (27-30, 33-31, 30-18, 30-28). Both of these wins came without our starting outside hitters Ashley Hunter and Shelby Goldman - both out due to injuries. That meant a lot of changes. We moved freshman Kamisha Kellam into the line-up and Ashley DeNeal from the libero position to outside hitter. Ashlee Reed moved to the right, Ashley Green to the middle and Eileen Rodriguez slid into the libero position. Due to the changes we also changed our offense. We've been a team that runs a very fast and spread (antenna to antenna) offense. This past weekend, because of personnel, we did a lot more crossing patterns and overloading attack zones. I will say this, I was as proud of the team after this past weekend as any team that I've ever worked with. They showed a lot of heart and character in rebounding the way they did following the conference tournament. The seniors (Ashley Green, Ashley Hunter, Ashlee Reed, and Eileen Rodriguez) really showed the younger kids a great example that when you put on a UAlbany jersey, that you go out and compete....period. Greenie played her last match and got 8 kills and tied a career-high with 8 blocks. Rodriguez picked up 6 more aces and 15 digs in her last match. And Reed got another double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. A player's perspective from Ashlee Reed: "This past weekend was a much better way to end the season and my career. Although I wish the ending could have been different (going to the NCAA tournament) we did end the season with two wins and I guarantee that not too many other teams can say that. Its been an honor to play at UAlbany."

 

The team accomplished quite a bit this past season. The 28-4 record is the best record any America East Conference team has ever been. And currently the team is ranked 39th in the country - which is also the highest that any conference team has ever been.

 

Thank you for your support this season!

 

GO DANES!!!

 

Kelly Sheffield

Head Volleyball Coach