2008 Northeast-10 Volleyball Championship
Hosted by Pace University
Friday, November 14
Quarterfinals -
Hosted by Pace University
Match 1: #1 New Haven 3, #8 Le Moyne 0
Match 2: #2 Merrimack 3, #7 UMass Lowell 0
Match 3: #3 Bentley 3, #6 Franklin Pierce 0
Match 4: #4 Stonehill 3, #5 American International 0
Saturday, November 15
Semifinals
Match 5: #1 New Haven 3, #4 Stonehill 0
Match 6: #2 Merrimack 3, #3 Bentley 0
Championship
Match 7: #1 New Haven 3, #2 Merrimack 2
[Click Here For Championship Final Photo
Montage]
Chargers Win Northeast-10 Volleyball Championship
Information Provided By New Haven Sports Information
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The University of New Haven women's
volleyball team defeated Merrimack College 3-2 (18-25, 25-13,
19-25, 25-23, 15-10) Saturday night to capture the 2008
Northeast-10 Conference Championship. With the win the Chargers
improve to 28-3 on the season and earn the conference's automatic
bid into the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship.
The Chargers, already ranked first in last week's NCAA Division II
East Regional Rankings, have set themselves up to earn the
opportunity to host the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball East
Regional Championship tournament next week. The NCAA will announce
the complete field of 64 and the hosting sites tomorrow at 10 p.m.
on the selection show at www.NCAA.com.
The Warriors took the immediate lead in the opening set and
cruised to the first set victory. They led by as many as nine at
20-11 and the Chargers surge later in the match came up short.
In the second set UNH took control early and never gave up the
lead after scoring their third point and going up 3-2.
The third set was back-and-forth for the first half of the set
until the Warriors scored four-straight to take a 20-16 lead. The
teams exchanged points for the remaining part of the third set.
In the highly contested fourth set, UNH came out on top with a
25-23 victory. After being down 12-18 and 11-17, the Chargers
rallied with six unanswered points to tie the score at 18. The
teams played even and found themselves tied at 23 before the
Chargers wrapped up the fourth set with back-to-back points.
In the fifth set the teams played to a 4-4 tie before the Chargers
rattled off four straight to take the commanding 8-4 lead in the
final set. The teams again exchanged points in the final part of
the set before a Merrimack attack error gave UNH the clean sweep of
the 2008 NE-10 Conference Championships.
Leading the way for the Chargers in the match was senior middle
Rhe-Ann Niles who recorded a career-high 24 kills in the
championship match. Also the nation's leader in hitting percentage,
she tallied a .526 hitting percentage (24-4-38). She added 10 total
blocks and four digs to her match totals.
Senior Charisse Cotton was the only other Charger to record
double-figure kills in the match with 18. She added two blocks and
four digs for the Chargers. Setter Yael Rosner handed out 55
assists, two away from her personal best, while also grabbing three
digs and three blocks.
Katrina Ali led the UNH defense with a career-best 28 digs. Sara
Mamlov, Brittani Cotton and Heather Ladao each also grabbed
double-digit digs for UHN.
The biggest difference in Saturday's championship match was the Chargers ability to stop Merrimack's attack. UNH recorded 27 total blocks and cause 29 Warriors attack errors, while the Chargers recorded just 23 attack errors and were blocked just seven times.
2008
Northeast-10 All-Championship Team
Keziah Kashouh, American International
Kristine Michelson, Bentley
Karissa Hookstadt, Franklin Pierce
Kristen Cobb, Le Moyne
Allie Eide, UMass Lowell
Ale Kuncaitis, Merrimack
Rhe-Ann Niles and Yael Rosner, New Haven
Andrea Wirth, Stonehill
Championship MVP - Rhe-Ann Niles, New Haven
