UAlbany Seeded Third For America East Conference Volleyball Championship

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Cambridge, Mass. – The 2007 America East Conference Volleyball Championship seedings have been finalized with regular-season champion Stony Brook earning the No. 1 seed and the right to host the four-team tournament that will be held at Stony Brook Arena on November 17-18.

Stony Brook (23-7, AE 11-1) will face No. 4 Binghamton (16-17, AE 7-5) on Saturday at 1 p.m., while the second semifinal at 3:30 p.m. will feature No. 3 UAlbany (19-9, AE 8-4) squaring off against No. 2 New Hampshire (19-8, AE 8-4). Winners of each semifinal match will play for an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Great Danes, who are making their sixth consecutive trip to the conference postseason and have won two of the last three A-East championships, have been led offensively by freshman Amanda Cowdrey (3.47 kills/game), senior Ashley Crenshaw (3.42 kpg) and junior Kamisha Kellam (3.27 kpg). The trio all rank in the top-ten in the league in kills. Freshman setter Brooke Stanley ranks fourth in the conference in assists (10.45 pg) and is second in service aces (0.46 pg). Defensively, freshman lilbero Tahny Dahmes leads the team and is fifth in the league in digs per game with 4.24 and Kellam averages 1.05 blocks per game.

New Hampshire swept the regular-season series over UAlbany, winning in University Gym, 3-2, on Oct. 5 and taking the season finale on Nov. 11 by a score of 3-1. The Wildcats have relied on the offensive production of Kirsten Bates and Emmy Blouin. Bates is third in the league in points with 4.33 per game, while Blouin is averaging 4.28 points per game. Libero Alyse Lahti is leading the defensive charge, as she ranks first in the conference with 4.78 digs per game.

In the other semifinal, Stony Brook, who fell in last year’s tournament semifinal to eventual champion UAlbany, will continue their quest for the program’s first-ever league title. The Seawolves grabbed a pair of wins over Binghamton in the regular season, winning both matches by 3-1 scores. The Bearcats won the conference crown in 2005.

Live scoreboards and statistics for all matches of the 2007 America East Volleyball Championship will be made available on www.AmericaEast.com.


2007 America East Conference Volleyball Championship

Stony Brook Arena (Stony Brook, N.Y.)


Saturday, November 17

Semifinal #1: No. 4 Binghamton at No. 1 Stony Brook, 1:00 p.m.

Semifinal #2: No. 3 UAlbany vs. No. 2 New Hampshire, 3:30 p.m.



Championship: Sunday, November 18

Winner Semifinal #1 vs. Winner Semifinal #2, 1:00 p.m.