Volleyball Update

[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!!!