ORONO, Maine--The UMBC volleyball team suffered its fourth straight defeat at Maine Friday night, 21-25, 23-25, 25-14, 25-20 and 16-18. The loss drops the Retrievers to 15-10, 4-4 in America East play, while the Black Bears improved to 11-11 and 4-4 in conference action.
Serving and passing errors were the downfall for the Retrievers, who had 12 service errors including three in a row after the match was tied at 13 in the decisive set. Maine also out-paced UMBC in digs, 83-70.
It was a very even match throughout as both teams hit .176 for the night. For the Retrievers, it was a night of highs and lows as they hit .024 in the first set, but hit 14 kills to one error on their way to hitting .419 in the third.
"We showed fantastic courage to come back from down two sets," said head coach Ian Blanchard. "But in the end, our own serving and passing errors are what cost us the match."
Lindsay Allman led the Black Bears with 16 kills, while junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) led all hitters with 19 for UMBC.
In the first set, junior Pam Jarrett (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Pius X) broke the 800 dig mark for her career, while junior Sarah Ball (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Sisler) hit her 800th kill of her career.
The Retrievers return to action Sunday at New Hampshire in a crucial America East matchup at 1 p.m.
