NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The UAlbany volleyball team earned its first victories of the year with a three-set sweep of Rutgers (25-19, 26-24, 25-21) and a four-game victory over Iona (23-25, 25-12, 25-14, 25-22) to conclude the Yale Invitational.
With the victories, UAlbany (2-4) earned second place in the Yale Invitational with a 2-1 record in the tournament only behind the tournament host. Laini Leindecker and Nicole Otero earned a place on the Yale Invitational All-Tournament Team. Leindecker finished the tournament with 32 kills and 27 digs while Otero earned 35 digs, five aces and 11 assists.
“The team continues to grow and learn, and we had some great play from our freshmen, who were playing like veterans,” said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom. “Our serving was much improved, our back row played awesome defense and our setters Mikala [McCauley] and Kelly [Cameron] did a good job distributing the ball.”
UAlbany's victory over Rutgers (4-2) marks the second straight season the Great Danes have defeated a Big Ten opponent, defeating the Scarlet Knights in Hamilton last season.
Leindecker led the day for UAlbany with 24 kills and 16 digs combined. Chloe Evering hit .300 with 22 kills and four blocks while Courtney O'Connell hit .325 for 18 kills. Akuabata Okenwa tallied seven kills and 12 total blocks.
Rutgers was led by Mikaela Matthews, hitting .500 with nine kills and three blocks while Lauren Cloyd hit .462 for eight kills.
For Iona (0-7), Claire Archibald got a double-double off 14 kills and 12 digs. Mia Bonsignore had eight kills.
At 2-2 in the first match, an attack error sent Nina Holmes back to serve. Holmes served UAlbany through a 6-0 run. When that run ended, Gabrielle Hansen took over with a 4-0 run on serving, including a back row kill, for a 12-3 UAlbany lead. After an exchange, Rutgers got four kills back, capped by a Mikaela Matthews ace, to make it 14-8 UAlbany. Leindecker and Amanda Dolan earned kills to counter Rutgers points as UAlbany held the advantage. At 21-18, Leindecker and O'Connell combined for three kills to effectively seal the set. UAlbany won set one 25-19.
Rutgers had two early 4-0 runs to build an 8-3 lead in set two. A Dolan kill sent Otero to serve; Otero notched two aces to pull UAlbany within two. Rutgers built the lead back to five at 12-7, later 13-8. Leindecker earned three kills as UAlbany won five of the next six points to tie the set at 14. After two Rutgers points and a service error, Leindecker got to serve and compiled a 6-0 run, including two kills and a block from Evering, for a 20-16 UAlbany lead. UAlbany picked up set point at 24-20, but Rutgers uses two Meme Fletcher kills in a 4-0 sprint to tie the set. UAlbany fought back and finished the set with a Leindecker kill and a Rutgers handling error to win game two 26-24 and go up 2-0.
Fletcher picked up two kills and a block early to send Rutgers up 5-2 in the third. At 7-4, Hansen again had a long serving run, including an ace and an Okenwa kill on the first touch, to put UAlbany up 9-7, later building the lead to 12-9 off Okenwa's serving. Rutgers pulled to within one at 15-14. UAlbany led Rutgers swing away, with three attack errors and an Evering kill making UAlbany's lead at five. A kill and three blocks brought Rutgers back within one at 20-19. UAlbany held the lead and won four of the next five to hold the set. UAlbany won 25-21 to sweep Rutgers.
Later, UAlbany returned to take on Iona. The Gaels got an early 5-0 run off Archibald's serving. UAlbany pulled to within one off Otero's serving to make it 6-5, but Iona got the lead back to four at 10-6. Okenwa went on a tear in a 5-0 run with two kills and two blocks as UAlbany took the lead. Iona struck back with a pair of 3-0 runs to lead 16-14. UAlbany got kills and repeatedly got to within one, but could not tie the set again. An Archibald kill ended the set 25-23 in favor of Iona.
At 3-2 Iona, O'Connell notched two kills and a block to fuel an 8-0 UAlbany sprint. Later, Holmes and Hansen each served UAlbany to 3-0 runs, including four different players picking up four kills, as UAlbany led 16-5. The Great Danes gave up back-to-back points only once the rest of the way as Evering picked up two late kills. UAlbany cruised to a 25-12 victory to even the match at 1-1.
UAlbany picked up where it left off into the third set as McCauley notched an ace and an assist in a 3-0 run, with Otero having a 3-0 run on an ace and two Evering kills for a 7-2 lead. Iona pulled to within two at 8-6. Okenwa got a kill to send Hansen to serve. Including two aces, Hansen pushed UAlbany's run to 7-0 to make it 15-6 Great Danes. At 16-10, kills by Leindecker and O'Connell helped feed a 4-0 run to make it 20-10 UAlbany. O'Connell and Evering each earned two more kills as UAlbany took the set 25-14 to lead 2-1 in the match.
The two teams went back and forth to begin the fourth set, with both sides using multiple players to earn kills. At 9-8 Iona, UAlbany earned four straight kills, including two by Dolan, adding two more points to lead 14-9. Later, a 3-0 run by Iona made it 15-13. At 17-15, a Leindecker kill sent Emily Zimmerman back to serve. She notched an ace to make it 19-15 UAlbany. Iona got to within one after a Kait Ferretti ace, and later tied it at 22-22. The front row put UAlbany in fornt for good with an O'Connell kill, an Iona attack error and a Okenwa-Evering combo block to send UAlbany to victory 25-22 and the match 3-1.
UAlbany's next tournament will be in Chicago for the DePaul Invitational. The Great Danes open vs. Illinois-Chicago at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, September 9th.
