Sept. 29, 2011

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Winners of four straight matches, the Stony Brook volleyball team hosts the Albany Great Danes and the Binghamton Bearcats this weekend at Pritchard Gymnasium. The Seawolves will take on defending conference champion Albany on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Binghamton on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Last time out
Senior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) and sophomore Evann Slaughter(Clinton, Md.) combined for 32 kills including nine in the fifth set as Stony Brook rallied for a 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 13-25, 25-11, 16-14) win over the UMBC Retrievers on Friday at the RAC Arena in the America East opener for both teams.

Nelson had a game-high 17 kills to go along with 10 digs while Slaughter hit .387 and tallied 15 kills. Freshman Laura Hathaway(Warsaw, NY.) registered a game-high 22 digs for Stony Brook.

Seawolves News & Notes
Stony Brook (7-7, 1-0) is at .500 for the first time this season ... Slaughter earned America East Player of the Week honors for the second time this season on Monday ... she is the only player this season to win the award twice ... this will be the Seawolves first match since last Friday's victory over UMBC ... Friday's match against Albany will be a re-match of last season's America East semifinals when SBU rallied from two sets down before falling to the top-seeded Great Danes ... Nelson continues to lead the America East in kills per set (3.91) and points per set (4.36) ... she had a career-high 26 kills in the semifinal match against Albany last season.

Scouting Albany
The Great Danes (7-7, 1-0 AE) opened the conference season with a 3-1 win over Binghamton last weekend. The preseason favorite to win the America East, Albany has won three straight and seven of its last eight with the only loss coming against No. 25 Ohio State.

Albany leads the conference in kills per set (13.42) and hitting percentage (.208). Brooke Stanley is first in the America East with 10.5 assists per set while Laurie Gonzalez is averaging 5.19 digs per set which ranks second in the conference.

Scouting Binghamton
The Bearcats (8-10, 0-1) have lost four of their last six after losing to Albany last weekend. Binghamton will take on UMBC on Friday before facing the Seawolves on Sunday.

Libero Xiomara Ortiz had 28 digs against Albany last weekend and is third in the America East in digs (4.52 per set). Binghamton is sixth in the America East in hitting percentage (.178) but ranks third in opponent hitting percentage (.205).