Volleyball Tonight

[Dane Pound]

The latest Volleyball Update from Coach Sheffield:

 

Dear Alumni, Family, and Friends of UAlbany Volleyball:

 

This weekend we hit the road for our final tournament before the conference season. We traveled to Yale where we played the host Bulldogs, Central Connecticut, and Rhode Island. We opened the tournament against CCSU where we lost 3-1 (30-27, 19-30, 30-28, 30-28). Simply put, our opponent competed harder, executed better, and played together as a team better than we did. I don't think we came ready to compete, and that certainly cannot happen.

 

The fortunate thing is that we had another match 16 hours later. We played a very athletic Rhode Island team and really came out ready to go. We executed and competed and gained a 3-0 win (30-17, 30-23, 30-23). In the evening match we played a very good Yale team. Ball-control wise, and defensively, they may be the best that we've seen all season. In game one we were on the short end of a 21-11 score, when we came soaring back to win 31-29. Game 2 we fell behind early and tried to make another comeback only to lose 30-22. Game 3 also went to Yale 30-26. For the first time all match we jumped out to a strong start in Game 4 and rode that to a 30-22 win. In Game 5 we broke free from a 10-10 tie to win 15-11. I was very happy with the way that we responded from Friday night's match. Not just with getting a couple of wins, but with our determination, preparation, and playing together. We passed with confidence and were absolutely ferocious defensively. It was a total team effort as everyone made some very important and critical plays for us.

 

Blair Buchanan's thoughts: "This weekend showed a lot about what kind of team we are. We struggled against Central Connecticut on Friday and we let one slip by us. The good thing about that loss was the way we responded the next morning. We swept Rhode Island in 3 games. Our middles, Ashley Crenshaw and Kamisha Kellam, were awesome that match and it was all made possible because of our passing and ball control. Saturday evening we beat Yale in 5 games and finally got rid of the bad taste in our mouth from 2 years ago. We showed mental toughness playing in front of a tough crowd and hopefully this win will boost our confidence as we prepare for Siena."

 

Tomorrow night we host cross-town rival and defending MAAC champion, Siena, at 7:00. And then this weekend we open America East conference play at defending champion Binghamton and a home contest with UMBC. This is a big week for us and we are definitely excited for it!

 

 

 

Tues. vs. Siena 7:00

 

Fri. at Binghamton 7:00

 

Sun. vs. UMBC 3:00

 

 

 

GO GREAT DANES!!!