Sep 21, 2009

CALDWELL'S ALAO EARNS VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF WEEK ACCOLADES

Click Here for the Full Release

NEW HAVEN, CT - Caldwell College's Titilola Alao has earned Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Volleyball Player of the Week accolades for the week ending Sunday, Sept. 20. Fellow Cougar Susan McDonough was the pick for Rookie of the Week.

Alao, a 5-10 sophomore middle blocker from Ossining, NY, averaged 2.69 kills and 1.12 blocks per-set in a 2-2 week for the Cougars, including two wins over CACC North Division foes. She set a career-high with 21 kills at a .436 hitting percentage against Stonehill and had seven blocks and seven kills in a 3-0 win over Bloomfield.

McDonough, a 5-9 freshman outside hitter from Saline, MI, posted 2.88 kills and 3.12 digs per-set in four matches last week. She led the Cougars in kills in conference wins over Bloomfield and Dominican and notched 15 kills and 15 digs vs. Molloy.

Honorable Mention

Ursula Pereira, Bloomfield (Sr., MB, 5-11, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) - Averaged 4.83 kills, 2.00 digs and a .364 hit percentage in a 1-1 week.

Celena Rendon, Philadelphia (Sr., OH, 5-9, San Antonio, TX) - Averaged 1.92 kills and 3.67 digs in a 4-0 week.

Kirsten Lechner, USP (Sr., OH, 5-8, Wayne, NJ) - Posted 2.73 kills and 5.09 digs per-set in a 1-2 week. Had 15 kills and 30 digs against Wilmington.

CACC Notes 

Bloomfield - The Lady Deacons earned their first victory of the 2009 season with a straight set victory over conference foe Concordia College.

Caldwell - The Cougars earned a pair of three-set victories over CACC North Division opponents last week, beating Bloomfield on Tuesday and Dominican on Thursday. With the wins, the Cougars set a school record with nine consecutive sets won, extending back to a 3-0 shutout of Holy Family on Sept. 12. Sophomore middle blocker Titilola Alao had a career-high 21 kills vs. Stonehill on Saturday. Freshman Susan McDonough has recorded 10 or more digs in all 12 matches this season.

Georgian Court - All GCU home matches can now be seen on CACC.tv. The Lions extended their CACC winning streak to 53 straight with wins over Chestnut Hill and Holy Family last week. GCU will put the streak on the line this week with matches at Philadelphia (9/22) and Caldwell (9/26).

Philadelphia - PhilaU continues to have ground-breaking success, currently riding a 14-game winning streak. Veteran players like Celena Rendon and Nicole Berkstresser have provided the team with the leadership and skills, while freshmen like Danielle Carney and Mary Mancuso add new dimensions to the squad. The team plays two matches this week, including a home match vs. Georgian Court (9/22) at 7:00PM. The match will be webcast live via philaurams.com.



USP - USP's win over Wilmington was just its fourth against the Wildcats in 32 career meetings dating back to 1994. (4-28). Christine Puschak (Leola, Pa.) set a USP single match record (25-point format) with 23 kills vs. Wilmington. Sarah Hickman (Newark, Del.) also set a single match record with 55 assists in the Wilmington match. Three USP players reached milestone marks for career kills over the weekend: Puschak recorded her 600th career kill vs. Wilmington and has moved into 4th place on the Devils' all-time career list with 614. Cady Rich (Shelton, Conn.) recorded her 500th career kill vs. LeMoyne and is 9th on the Devils all-time list with 500. Kirsten Lechner (Wayne, N.J.) recorded her 400th career kill vs. Wilmington and moved into 10th place on the Devils all-time list with 410. Lechner also recorded her 700th career dig vs. Le Moyne and is 9th on the Devils all-time list with 705 for her career. The Devils face a pair of conference foes this week when they host Georgian Court University on Thursday and Nyack College on Saturday.