VESTAL, N.Y.-- The UMBC volleyball team dropped a four-set match, 26-28, 25-20, 20-25 and 23-25, at Binghamton Friday night in Vestal, N.Y. With the loss, the Retrievers fell to 16-11 and 5-5 in America East play, while the Bearcats improved to 14-12 and 8-1 in conference action.
Freshman Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) led UMBC with 16 kills in a match where the Bearcats hit 64 kills compared to the Retrievers' 51. Binghamton also led UMBC in digs, 59-53. Both teams blocked well, with the Bearcats blocking 15 to the Retrievers'14.
The Retrievers had strong hitting and blocking performances from sophomore Bridget Scheetz (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy), who hit .421 with 11 kills and six assisted blocks, and redshirt freshman Sarah Hill (Richmond, Va./L.C. Bird), who hit .353 with eight kills and led the team with seven assisted blocks. Freshman Iman Kennedy (Charlotte, N.C./Independence) also added six total blocks in the middle for UMBC.
Scheetz now has 102 total blocks on the year, the seventh most in school history. With 13 kills today, junior Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) moved into seventh place all-time in UMBC history with 991 in her career.
In the first set, Binghamton out-hit the Retrievers .286 to .179, but the teams were tied at 26-26 before UMBC missed a serve and an attack to hand the Bearcats the set.
The Retrievers came back in the second set, hitting an outstanding .310 for the set with 12 kills against only three errors. After the teams were tied at 17, UMBC took advantage of four Bearcat errors and stuffed two blocks on their way to a 25-20 set win.
In the third, UMBC could not keep the hitting momentum from the second going, only hitting .083 for the set. The Bearcats took advantage, ending with a 5-1 run including two service aces to win the set, 25-20.
UMBC fell behind 24-18 in the fourth before running back five straight points, but Binghamton's Michelle McDonough hit her game-high 22nd kill to seal the victory for the Bearcats.
The Retrievers return to action Tuesday night for a non-conference matchup at Delaware at 7 p.m.
