BALTIMORE, Md.-- The UMBC volleyball team defeated Maine, 3-2, on Sunday afternoon at the RAC Arena. After winning the first two sets, the Retrievers (12-6, 2-0 AEC) dropped the next two to the Black Bears (7-9, 0-2), but came back to win, 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 17-25, 15-10.
"It's always good to open up the conference season with a couple of wins," said head coach Ian Blanchard. "With our close match against New Hampshire on Friday, Maine keeping close with Albany and us, and Binghamton beating Stony Brook, I think the league has a lot of parity and every match is going to be tough."
Junior Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) had a game-high 17 kills and eight total blocks for the Retrievers. With seven assisted blocks today, Scheetz moved into fifth place all-time at UMBC with 181 for her career. She also has the 10th most assisted blocks in a season at UMBC with 70 this year.
Freshman setter Allie Spaay (Kenosha, Wisc./Kenosha Tremper) directed the UMBC offense, earning her second double-double of the season, with 41 assists and 12 digs.
"I thought Allie did a good job of stepping up for us and getting our team in a rhythm, especially in the fifth set," said Blanchard.
Freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) earned her fifth double-double of the season, with 12 kills and 10 digs. Junior Pam Jarrett (Lincon, Neb./Lincoln Pius X) led UMBC with 17 digs, and junior Sarah Ball (Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada/Sisler) added 15 digs.
The Retrievers controlled the first two sets that included hitting .312 in the second set. In the third and fourth sets, the Retrievers hit under .100, while the Black Bears hit .321 in the fourth.
UMBC responded in the fifth, as redshirt freshman Sarah Hill (Richmond, Va./L.C. Byrd) was inserted into the match and added two kills and two assisted blocks just a few plays after coming in.
"I thought Sarah did a fantastic job of coming in cold," said Blanchard. "She had couple of great blocks against their middle hitters and her play was key for us winning this match."
The Retrievers blocked the Black Bears five times in the final set to seal the match.
"I'm really encouraged by our play in the fifth game, Maine had all of the momentum, but we came out and put pressure on them with our serve," said Blanchard. "We also did a great job of getting sideouts and getting a couple of stuff blocks to keep the pressure on them."
The Retrievers return to action Friday at Hartford in a match starting at 7 p.m.
