UAlbany Volleyball's Kellam Named First-Team All-League; Cowdrey Chosen America East Rookie of the Year

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Cambridge, Mass. – University at Albany’s Amanda Cowdrey has been named the America East Conference Rookie of the Year, leading a group of five student-athletes named to the all-conference teams, as announced at the America East Volleyball Championship banquet on Friday, Nov. 16.

Junior Kamisha Kellam earned all-conference first team honors while Cowdrey and senior Ashley Crenshaw were named to the second team. Cowdrey, along with classmates Tawny Dahmes and Brooke Stanley, earned spots on the conference’s all-rookie squad.

Cowdrey is the first Great Dane to win the top rookie accolade since Ashley DeNeal in 2003. Cowdrey, who was named the conference’s rookie of the week on four occasions this season, led the team and all freshmen in the conference with 3.47 kills and 4.01 points per game. She also recorded 3.43 digs per game to place her eighth in the league.

Kellam was named to the all-conference first team after earning second-team accolades as a sophomore. She was a top-10 conference leader in hitting percentage (.322), kills per game (3.27) and points per game (3.94), and finished the regular season ranked fifth in blocks with 1.05 per game. She is currently second on UAlbany’s career blocks chart with 283.

Crenshaw earned all-conference honors for the third time in her career, after leading the America East with a .344 hitting percentage and averaging 3.42 kills per game. The senior outside hitter recently recorded her 1,000th career kill as a Great Dane, and is ninth all-time in the UAlbany record book. Crenshaw, a communication major, was also named to the all-academic team, which recognizes all-conference nominees who also hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

Dahmes, a libero, and Stanley, a setter, join Cowdrey on the all-rookie team. Dahmes led the Great Danes with 4.24 digs per game after playing in all 28 matches this season. Stanley averaged 10.45 assists per game and recorded the fifth-highest single-season total in UAlbany history with 1,108 assists. Stanley earned the conference’s setter of the week honor twice this season.

UAlbany (19-9, AE 8-4) is seeded third for the America East Volleyball Championship and will face New Hampshire on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Stony Brook, N.Y.