The women's volleyball team this past weekend lost three matches to defending America East champion Albany.
With scores of 30-19, 30-18 and 30-19, the Wildcats are now 3-15 for the season and 0-3 in America East play.
"Albany is a good team, that's why they're defending America East Champions. They run a really fast offense, we were just a little too young to hold on," said head coach Jill Hirschinger.
The 'Cats came out strong in the first match, scoring the first point and holding the lead for a few volleys. It was short lived though as Albany took the lead, and never looked back. The 'Cats stayed in the game but were unable to catch them.
That carried into the next match as the Wildcats briefly held control in the first few points. But Albany quickly ran away with the win, despite the offensive efforts of Senior Captain Erin Walker and Caitlin Dowd who recorded nine and eight kills on the night, respectively.
"Walker, we kind of look to her for leadership, she gets the ball more than anybody else. And Freshman Caitlin Dowd had a really good match," said Hirschinger
Freshman Lucia Bridova helped them out with 22 assists in the game.
UNH came back into the match three strong, with big points scored by Dowd and Senior outside hitter Katie Steffens. UNH led at the beginning of the match, and were able to tie it up once again, 12-12.
Sophomore Emmy Blouin was unusually absent from the big plays in this game.
"Emmy is usually one of our go to players, she hit for negative tonight. She's struggling a little bit. We want to see who's going to have an impact on the court and I thought Amy coming off the bench did a really good job," said Hirschinger.
Senior outside hitter Lan "Amy" Dai came into the game to record one kill and three defensive digs.
It was not enough to stop Albany, though, who was led offensive by Shelby Golfman with 12 kills on the night. Blair Buchanan also contributed with 32 assists. They were backed up defensively by Ashley DeNeal, who had 18 digs.
"It didn't go how I wanted it to go. Albany is a tough team," said Walker. "I think our team needs to kick up the intensity a bit. Make less errors, and get more aggressive on serving, our serving was really weak tonight."
Albany is now 2-0 in America East play and 15-2 for the season.
The Wildcats will get another try to get a win in America East tonight against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County at 5 p.m. in Lundholm Gymnasium.
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