BOSTON - Led by the America East Rookie of the Year, freshman Maria Olga Siapani, the University at Albany volleyball team earned six America East end-of-season awards, the conference announced Wednesday.

With two individual honorees, redshirt-junior Shynelle Woroniuk joins Siapani on the 2024 postseason award list. A six-time America East Rookie of the Week and five-time America East Setter of the Week, Siapani was named the Rookie of the Year in addition to Second Team All-Conference and All-Rookie Team nods. Woroniuk was voted as one of the best players in the league with a spot on the First Team All-Conference and the All-Academic Teams. In addition to the two student-athlete honorees, Josh Pickard, Heather Feldman, and Chris Carter were named Coaching Staff of the Year.

For the full list of this year’s honorees, click here.

Making a name for herself from the first match of the season, Maria Olga Siapani quickly established herself as a standout player and was named Rookie of the Year. Second in the conference in assists per game, she also finished the regular season eighth in service aces per game. Totaling 10 double-doubles on the season, the Second Team All-Conference honoree was crucial to the Great Danes’ defensive efforts with the second-highest digs total. With a single-match career-high 50 assists, she is third among all single-match assist performances in the conference. The Limassol, Cyprus native also holds four of the top-ten assisting performances in three-set matches, one of the top-five performances in four-set matches, and one of the top-two performances in five-set matches. 

Earning her first America East postseason awards, Shynelle Woroniuk has earned a First Team All-Conference nod. The team’s captain is one of four tenured student-athletes to spend her entire career at UAlbany. Leading the offensive efforts with 3.47 kills per set, Woroniuk finished third in the America East in kills per set and fourth in points per set (3.85). The Red Deer, Alberta, Canada native matched her career-high with 21 kills against UConn and garnered double-digit kills in 20 out of 24 matches played this season. 

Honored with a spot on the All-Academic Team, Woroniuk has spent three complete years as a business administration major while concentrating in marketing and management. She holds a 3.83 GPA.
 

In addition to the two student-athletes who were honored, the UAlbany coaches were named the Coaching Staff of the Year. Pickard, Feldman, and Carter guided the team to implement changes that resulted in statistical improvements across nearly every category compared to 2023. The team improved their overall record from 7-18 in 2023 to 11-14 in 2024 with three additional league wins to gain their first playoff berth since 2021.

The Great Danes will continue the season as the fourth seed in the America East Championship Tournament (Nov. 22-23). UAlbany will play the host, Binghamton, in the first match of the tournament on Friday, November 22 at 4 PM.

Keep up with all of the latest news, highlights, and insights on UAlbany volleyball by following the team on X, Instagram, and Facebook.