LOWELL, Mass. – UAlbany stamped its ticket to the America East Tournament on Saturday with a three-set (25-12, 25-16, 28-26) road win over UMass Lowell.
UAlbany (9-18, 9-5 AE) will be the 3-seed in the upcoming America East Tournament. UMBC holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over UAlbany, while UAlbany has the tiebreaker against Stony Brook, both due to head-to-head competition.
The America East semifinal round will be on Friday, November 22nd, with a time to be determined. UAlbany will face 2-seed UMBC in this match in Durham, New Hampshire. UNH will serve as the tournament host after winning the conference regular season title.
In the first set, UAlbany took an early 3-1 lead after a kill each from Amy Hunter and Olivia Schonewise. UML (0-26, 0-14 AE) got three straight kills from Ella Merrill to take a 4-3 advantage. UAlbany countered, taking the next 13 points, its longest run of the season, including three Viktoriia Stroilo aces and a trio Samantha Brostrom kills, to go up 16-4. After a UMass Lowell kill, UAlbany won three next three, capped by a Mikala McCauley dump kill, for a 19-5 advantage. At 21-7, Maxence Dardelet earned her first collegiate kill for the Great Danes. UAlbany held off a late UML run as the Great Danes took set one 25-12.
After UML got off to a 2-0 start in the second game, UAlbany rolled off three straight, capped by an Amanda Dolan solo block, for a 3-2 lead. Down 5-4, the Great Danes won nine of the next 10 points, including another Stroilo ace and two Brostrom kills, to push ahead 13-6. Following a service error, UAlbany earned three straight, capped by a block and kill from Hunter. UAlbany and UML exchanged points towards the end, with a couple of Tatum Jungsten kills finishing the game, giving UAlbany a 25-16 set victory and 2-0 lead in the match.
A McCauley ace, Sofia Furlong kill and two Kamiren Humphrey errors gave UAlbany a 4-0 head start in game three. UMass Lowell countered with six of the next eight points to tie up the set at 6-6. A Jungsten kill and block helped UAlbany go up 9-7, but UML responded with three-in-a-row for a 10-9 lead. At 14-12, the River Hawks got two Anisa Smith kills on a 4-0 run to lead 16-14, inducing MJ Engstrom to call timeout. A Laini Leindecker kill stopped the run, and later a Rebecca Rivera ace tied the game at 17, but two Merrill kills put the home team back in front 19-17. After a timeout, Leindecker earned a kill to spark a 3-0 run and put UAlbany back ahead 20-19. Back and forth the teams went when at 21-21, kills from Dolan and Furlong put UAlbany back in front 23-21, causing UML to call a timeout. UAlbany got match point at 24-22, but twice UML defended. The Great Danes kept siding out, but so did UMass Lowell until 27-26, when a Merrill attack error ended the game. UAlbany won the game 28-26 to complete the match in three sets.
Stroilo earned a career-best four service aces, adding 16 digs at libero. Jungsten led the team in attacking, hitting .571 with nine kills and two blocks. Brostrom concluded with seven kills and eight digs.
For UMass Lowell, Merrill nearly had a double double with 10 digs and nine kills. Anisa Smith also had nine kills, hitting .333.
UAlbany (9-18, 9-5 AE) will be the 3-seed in the upcoming America East Tournament. UMBC holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over UAlbany, while UAlbany has the tiebreaker against Stony Brook, both due to head-to-head competition.The America East semifinal round will be on Friday, November 22nd, with a time to be determined. UAlbany will face 2-seed UMBC in this match in Durham, New Hampshire. UNH will serve as the tournament host after winning the conference regular season title.
In the first set, UAlbany took an early 3-1 lead after a kill each from Amy Hunter and Olivia Schonewise. UML (0-26, 0-14 AE) got three straight kills from Ella Merrill to take a 4-3 advantage. UAlbany countered, taking the next 13 points, its longest run of the season, including three Viktoriia Stroilo aces and a trio Samantha Brostrom kills, to go up 16-4. After a UMass Lowell kill, UAlbany won three next three, capped by a Mikala McCauley dump kill, for a 19-5 advantage. At 21-7, Maxence Dardelet earned her first collegiate kill for the Great Danes. UAlbany held off a late UML run as the Great Danes took set one 25-12.
After UML got off to a 2-0 start in the second game, UAlbany rolled off three straight, capped by an Amanda Dolan solo block, for a 3-2 lead. Down 5-4, the Great Danes won nine of the next 10 points, including another Stroilo ace and two Brostrom kills, to push ahead 13-6. Following a service error, UAlbany earned three straight, capped by a block and kill from Hunter. UAlbany and UML exchanged points towards the end, with a couple of Tatum Jungsten kills finishing the game, giving UAlbany a 25-16 set victory and 2-0 lead in the match.
A McCauley ace, Sofia Furlong kill and two Kamiren Humphrey errors gave UAlbany a 4-0 head start in game three. UMass Lowell countered with six of the next eight points to tie up the set at 6-6. A Jungsten kill and block helped UAlbany go up 9-7, but UML responded with three-in-a-row for a 10-9 lead. At 14-12, the River Hawks got two Anisa Smith kills on a 4-0 run to lead 16-14, inducing MJ Engstrom to call timeout. A Laini Leindecker kill stopped the run, and later a Rebecca Rivera ace tied the game at 17, but two Merrill kills put the home team back in front 19-17. After a timeout, Leindecker earned a kill to spark a 3-0 run and put UAlbany back ahead 20-19. Back and forth the teams went when at 21-21, kills from Dolan and Furlong put UAlbany back in front 23-21, causing UML to call a timeout. UAlbany got match point at 24-22, but twice UML defended. The Great Danes kept siding out, but so did UMass Lowell until 27-26, when a Merrill attack error ended the game. UAlbany won the game 28-26 to complete the match in three sets.
Stroilo earned a career-best four service aces, adding 16 digs at libero. Jungsten led the team in attacking, hitting .571 with nine kills and two blocks. Brostrom concluded with seven kills and eight digs.
For UMass Lowell, Merrill nearly had a double double with 10 digs and nine kills. Anisa Smith also had nine kills, hitting .333.
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