ALBANY, N.Y. - The Great Danes will face Bryant on the road to decide which team will qualify for the America East Volleyball Championship.
 
MATCH INFORMATION
 
UAlbany at Bryant
DATE: Saturday, November 16
TIME: 2 PM
SITE: Chace Athletic Center
RECORDS: UAlbany 10-14, 4-5 AE | Bryant 18-9, 4-5 AE
SERIES RECORD: 4-2, Bryant leads
STATS: LiveStats
STREAM: ESPN+

*records as of 11.15
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes visited LIU (Nov. 5) and hosted NJIT (Nov. 8) last week.
• UAlbany fell to LIU in three sets but bounced back with a sweep over NJIT. 
• Overall, graduate student Elisavet Papageorgiou led the team with 3.67 kills per set and freshman Maria Olga Siapani had 8.40 assists per set and a service ace. On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek tallied 3.00 digs per set and sophomore Campbell Robinson led with six blocks.

GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany holds a 10-14 record on the season.
• The Great Danes started 2024 with a three-set sweep against NDSU (Aug. 30) but fell to UIC (Aug. 30) and FGCU (Aug. 31) at the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers Classic.
• The Purple and Gold hosted the UAlbany Invitational and went 2-1 with back-to-back wins against Iona (Sept. 6) and FDU (Sept. 7). 
• UAlbany battled at the Dog Pound Challenge (Sept. 13-14) but fell in three matches.
• At the UniWyo Invite (Sept. 20-21), the Great Danes fell to Utah (Sept. 20) and Wyoming (Sept. 20) but went on to sweep Coppin State in three sets (Sept. 21).
• In their first conference week of the season, the Great Danes fell in three sets to Binghamton (Sept. 27) and New Hampshire (Sept. 29).
• UAlbany defeated Le Moyne in a dominating four-set victory (Oct. 2).
• The Great Danes started their road trip with a match against UMBC (Oct. 6) and fell in five sets.
• The Purple and Gold swept NJIT in Newark in their first conference win of the season (Oct. 11).
• The Great Danes had their first undefeated week of the season with a four-set win over Siena (Oct. 16) and a straight-set win over Bryant (Oct. 18). 
• UAlbany fell to Binghamton (Oct. 25) in three sets but bounced back with a thrilling five-set victory over UMBC (Oct. 27). 
• In their visit to Durham, the Great Danes fell to New Hampshire (Nov. 1).
• The Purple and Gold fell to LIU (Nov. 5) in three sets on the road but bounced back with a sweep at home over NJIT (Nov. 8).
• Shynelle Woroniuk leads the Great Danes with 3.49 kills per set and 3.83 points per set.
• On defense, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Malek has tallied a team-high 3.73 digs per set.
• Maria Olga Siapani has made a name for herself as the team's starting setter. Siapani is second in the America East with 8.27 assists per set.
• Redshirt-sophomore Gabriella Karman has totaled double-digit blocks, leading the team with 54 total blocks.
• Siapani leads the Great Danes with 27 service aces for the Great Danes.

BUILDING ON GREATNESS

• The Great Danes welcome six newcomers with eleven returning student-athletes. 
• Senior Zosia Szczotkiewicz returns after being named the America East Setter of the Year and America East Second Team All-Conference.
• Junior Anna Myhal and graduate student Elisavet Papageorgiou both return after having been the only Great Danes to start all 25 matches in 2023. 
• Redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk and Sthefany Carvalho add valuable experience as team leaders in points and digs as an outside hitter and the team's libero, respectively.
• Among the newcomers is mid-year transfer Dora Filipovic who joined the team after two successful seasons in the NJCAA.
• UAlbany added five freshmen: Maria Olga Siapani, Kiki Provatas, Kasia Barletta, Nia Gibson, and Sabrina Kinkaid.

INTERNATIONAL APPEAL

• The UAlbany coaching staff is constantly at work to represent different cultures and countries on their roster each year.
• The 2024 roster traveled a total of 43,861 miles from their homes to UAlbany.
• Eight different countries and five different states within the USA are included on the 17-person roster.
  • United States
    • New York: Kasia Barletta, Sabrina Kinkaid
    • Texas: Tori Wilson, Kendall Harris
    • Maryland: Nia Gibson
    • Florida: Gabriella Karman, Kiki Provatas
    • Ohio: Campbell Robinson
  • Canada: Brooke Malek, Shynelle Woroniuk
  • Poland: Emilia Kuzniar, Zosia Szczotkiewicz
  • Brazil: Sthefany Carvalho
  • Greece: Elisavet Papageorgiou
  • Ukraine: Anna Myhal
  • Cyprus: Maria Olga Siapani
  • Croatia: Dora Filipovic

ABOUT BRYANT

• The Bryant Bulldogs are 18-9 on the season so far.
• In early non-conference play, Bryant earned victories over Florida Atlantic (Aug. 30) and Seton Hall (Aug. 31) but fell to Ball State (Aug. 30). They continued their success with home wins over Stonehill (Sep. 4), Rhode Island (Sep. 6), and Providence College (Sep. 7), although they faced a setback against Brown (Sep. 7).
• In tournament play, the Bulldogs secured wins against Holy Cross (Sep. 11), Sacred Heart (Sep. 13), Hofstra (Sep. 14), and Army West Point (Sep. 14). Bryant also defeated Merrimack (Sep. 17), Central Connecticut (Sep. 24), NJIT (Sep. 27), and Dartmouth College (Sep. 28) but encountered losses to Iona (Sep. 20) and St. John's (Sep. 21).
• Bryant had conference wins at home over NJIT (Sep. 27), New Hampshire (Oct. 11), and UMBC (Oct. 13). On the road, they topped Fairfield (Oct. 23) and NJIT (Oct. 25) but suffered losses to UAlbany (Oct. 18) and Binghamton (Nov. 1).
• In recent play, the Bulldogs faced challenges, with losses to New Hampshire (Nov. 3) and UMBC (Nov. 10) as they continued through conference matchups.
• Aubrey LaPour leads with 3.40 kills per set.
• Carrina Barron leads the Bulldogs with 3.82 digs per set.
• Brookelyn Talmadge leads at the net with 81 blocks and London Hunt follows closely with 80 blocks.

SERIES AGAINST THE BULLDOGS

• With a 4-2 advantage, Bryant leads the all-time series.
• UAlbany earned their second win over Bryant in a three-set sweep earlier this season. Opposite hitters Elisavet Papageorgiou (12 kills) and Kendall Harris (10 kills) led the team in the victory.
• The Great Danes clashed with the Bulldogs twice in the 2023 season, falling in both contests. 

AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• If Binghamton beats NJIT, the America East Volleyball Championship qualifiers will be Binghamton, the winner and loser of UMBC vs. UNH, and the winner of UAlbany vs. Bryant.  
• If NJIT beats Binghamton, the qualifiers will be the UMBC vs. UNH winner, Binghamton, the UMBC vs. UNH loser, and the UAlbany vs. Bryant winner. 
• UMBC holds a tiebreak over Binghamton on total points (138-137), and UNH holds a tiebreak by winning more sets (5-3).

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Saturday:
  • UAlbany at Bryant, 2 PM
• Sunday:
  • UMBC at New Hampshire, 1 PM
  • Binghamton at NJIT, 1 PM

UP NEXT: Following a win against the Bulldogs, the Great Danes will play in next weekend's America East Volleyball Championship.
 
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