STONY BROOK, N.Y.-- The UMBC volleyball team won its fifth straight match Sunday with a win over Stony Brook, 3-0. With the win, the Retrievers improved to 14-6 and 4-0 in America East play, while the Seawolves dropped to 9-12, 0-3 in conference play. It is the first time the Retrievers have won their first four conference matches since joining the America East in 2003, and first time since they started 4-0 in the Northeast Conference in 2002.
The Retrievers controlled the entire match, hitting .295 while earning 12 blocks to win 25-19, 25-17 and 25-18. The Seawolves were held to a .158 hitting percentage and committed 19 hitting errors to UMBC's 10.
"I'm really pleased with how we prepared our game plan and were able to stick to it today," said head coach Ian Blanchard. "I thought our outsides were outstanding today and I thought we had our best blocking match of the season so far."
Junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) had a game-high 15 kills with only two errors for a .394 hitting percentage, while freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) hit five kills, while earning eight digs.
Defense was another key for the Retrievers, as junior Pam Jarrett (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Pius X) led the team with 10 digs and junior Sarah Ball (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Sisler) added nine. Sophomore Bridget Scheetzcontinued her dominance in the middle, earning five assisted blocks while adding nine kills.
"Pam and Sarah played very well today and it kept us in rhythm," said Blanchard, "and I thought Bridget was fantastic in the middle today."
After jumping out to a two-set lead, the Retrievers found themselves down 7-3, early in the third set. After they fought back to take a 16-15 lead, UMBC went on a six-point run behind the serve of Ball to take control of the set.
"After we won the first two sets, I think we came out a little flat in the third," said Blanchard, "but we were able to keep our focus after falling down 7-3 and were able to finish out the match strong."
The Retrievers return to action Wednesday when they play host to local rival Towson in a non-conference matchup Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the RAC.
