Close third set falls short in Durham, volleyball falls on the road – UAlbany Athletics

RESULT: New Hampshire 3, Albany 0 (25-13, 25-17, 28-26)

LOCATION: Lundholm Gymnasium – Durham, NH

RECORDS: UAlbany 9-13, 3-5 America East | New Hampshire 14-8, 5-2 America East

BRIEF HISTORY: The Great Danes upped their game in each set, but host New Hampshire earned the victory Friday night.

COACH JOSH PICKARD: “It was a tough away game tonight. We came up against a team that doesn’t make many mistakes and put pressure on us all night. We battled in the third, but we couldn’t get enough pressure against their block to get going.”

KEY STATISTICS

• Redshirt Jr Overcoat Voronyuk led with 10 kills as a senior Elisavet Papageorgiou followed by eight kills.
• Junior Torrie Wilson earned a team-high .333 hitting percentage. The middle blocker also totaled a team-high three blocks.
• With a defense-oriented team against New Hampshire, seven different players scored at least six carries. Freshman Cassia Barletta led by nine digs.
• Senior Zosia Shchotkevich played in two sets as a setter for 19 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The game started back and forth, but an 8-1 run gave the Wildcats a 13-5 advantage.
• The Great Danes held strong, but a second New Hampshire score ended the set 25-13 in their favor.
• UNH started the second set with an early goal for a 7-2 lead.
• Gradually working on the point difference, UAlbany got it within two points, 17-15, but the Wildcats allowed just two more points to the Great Dane and claimed the second set win, 25-17.
• UAlbany held its lead early in the third set, 6-3.
• New Hampshire tied the score at seven, but the Great Danes responded with six straight points, including an ace by Cassia Barletta and two murders by Elisavet Papageorgiou.
• Down by seven points, the Wildcats came back to tie the score at 18.
• The set closed with back-and-forth action and went into extra points. UNH took the win 28-26 to take the game 3-0.

NEXT: The Great Danes will head to Long Island to play their final non-conference game before hosting NJIT on Senior Night on Friday (Nov. 8).

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