UAlbany Volleyball Completes 2-0 Weekend With a 3-1 Win Over New Hampshire

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Cowdrey’s sixth double-double of the season on 13 digs and a team-high 12 kills led the University at Albany women’s volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over New Hampshire in America East Conference action on Sunday afternoon. Set scores were 25-17, 21-25, 25-21 and 25-21. With the victory, the Great Danes are off to a perfect start through the first weekend of league play.

The first set started off sloppy as the two teams combined for three service errors on the first six rallies. With the score tied at 5-5, UAlbany went on an 8-0 run to go ahead 13-5. Mostert recorded four of her career-best five service aces during the stretch. New Hampshire never recovered and only brought the UAlbany lead down to seven points the rest of the way. After leading by as many as 10 points, the Great Danes closed out the set by a 25-17 decision.

The second set featured three ties and two lead changes. After trailing by scores of 2-0 and 3-1, the Great Danes went on a 5-0 run to take a 6-3 advantage with Hillary White serving and forced the Wildcats to call a timeout. Facing a narrow 11-10 deficit, the Wildcats scored the next four points and never trailed the rest of the set. UAlbany hung around and brought the Wildcat lead down to three points at 23-20 and 24-21 courtesy of kills by Cate Eckhardt, but Kristen Bates’ kill to close out the set gave the Wildcats the 25-21 win.

The teams traded points to begin the third set, a stanza which had five ties and two lead changes. With the score tied at 4-4, New Hampshire went ahead 7-4 and forced the Great Danes to call a timeout. UAlbany tied the score at 7-7 after a service error by the Wildcats’ Bates and kills by Mostert and Eckhardt. After UNH went ahead 10-7, UAlbany came right back to tie things up at 10-10. With the score knotted again at 11-11, the Great Danes took the lead for good following a pair of attacking errors by the Wildcats. UAlbany held on for the 25-21 set victory to go ahead 2-1.

In an effort by the Wildcats to force a fifth and deciding set, the two teams played a back-and-forth battle the entire fourth frame. Neither team went on a run that was greater than 4-0. UNH opened the scoring on a kill by Justine Elliott, but the Great Danes responded with four straight points and held off every run by the Wildcats for the remainder of the set. UAlbany won the set, 25-21, and recorded its second straight victory to open league play.

In addition to recording a double-double on 13 digs and 12 kills, Cowdrey finished third on the team with a .278 hitting percentage to pace the Great Danes. Eckhardt just missed a double-double, finishing with a career-best 18 digs along with nine kills and two service aces. Kamisha Kellam led the team with a .308 hitting percentage and had 10 kills. In addition to ending the match with a career-high five service aces, Mostert recorded a .286 hitting percentage, 10 digs, seven kills and four blocks. White had a team-best six blocks and Brooke Stanley contributed 36 assists.

New Hampshire (3-15, AE 0-2) was led by Bates, who finished the match with 20 kills, 13 digs, two service aces and a .356 hitting percentage. Lindsay Fogarty and Lauren Laquerre added 10 kills apiece, while Kate Uitti had 46 assists and Alyse Lahti posted 19 digs.

UAlbany (9-8, AE 2-0) returns to action next weekend for another pair of America East matches. The Great Danes will hit the road to face Stony Brook at 7 p.m. on Friday and Hartford at 6 p.m. next Sunday.