UAlbany Volleyball Faces Dayton And Old Coach

Dayton volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield loves the idea of returning to the University at Albany this weekend to see old friends.

He hates the thought of facing the program that he built into a regional powerhouse.

After leaving the Great Danes last spring, Sheffield leads Dayton into the UAlbany Invitational, where the teams will face each other at 7 p.m. Saturday in University Gym.

"It's people you care an awful lot about and people you went to battle for,'' Sheffield said. "Now going against that, and trying to find weaknesses in the team you worked with, it's not a fun thing.''

So why play in UAlbany's tournament?

"Because I'm an idiot,'' Sheffield joked. "When I got here, this was an open weekend on (Dayton's) schedule, and there just weren't a lot of options. I knew (UAlbany) was looking for one more team to fill out the tournament.''

Sheffield took the Dayton job after seven seasons at UAlbany, where he won three America East Conference titles and guided the Great Danes to their first NCAA Tournament victory last season.

But the Flyers offered better pay, greater fan support and a campus that's in the middle of a fertile Midwest recruiting base for volleyball. Dayton, which made the NCAA Tournament last year, is off to an 8-4 start.

"It was extremely hard (to leave),'' Sheffield said. "The truth of it was, I wasn't looking to leave. But the more we looked into the Dayton program, it became obvious to me and my wife this was a good situation for us.''

UAlbany assistant MJ Engstrom was promoted to interim head coach and has the Great Danes at 5-7 against a very tough non-conference schedule.

Engstrom said she doesn't think Saturday's match will be awkward against her old boss, but expected her players to be ready.

"Our kids are probably going to be a lot more fired up about it than the Dayton kids,'' she said.

UAlbany senior Kamisha Kellam said she's more focused on today's match against Yale in the tournament opener. She pointed out the Great Danes already faced Sheffield when they played Dayton in a tournament in Indianapolis last spring, shortly after Sheffield had switched teams.

UAlbany beat Dayton 3-0 in that exhibition, although the Flyers were missing players due to injury.

"It couldn't get more awkward than that,'' Kellam said. "That was a big blow because nobody expected (Sheffield leaving). But now, he's at his team and we're here and trying to win championships, and that's all we're really concerned about.''

Former UAlbany standouts Shelby Goldman, Ashley DeNeal and Blair Buchanan are expected to be in attendance Saturday.

"I'm really looking forward to that,'' Sheffield said. "I'm absolutely not looking forward to playing the match.''

Courtesy: Mark Singelais