GREENVILLE, N.C. – UMBC freshman
outside hitter Sherelle Walker (New Freedom,
Pa./Susquehannock) led a trio of Retrievers in double figures with
15 kills and junior Emily Vandegrift (Leesburg,
Va./Loudoun County) recorded her second straight double-double as
the UMBC volleyball team rallied from a set down to defeat East
Carolina, 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 28-26, 25-19), Friday evening at the
Pirate Invitational at Minges Coliseum.
For Walker it was her second straight contest in double figures
for UMBC (6-9) after recording 12 winners at St. Francis (Pa.)
earlier in the week. Vandegrift, who had 10 kills and 10
digs on Tuesday, registered 11 kills while picking up 17 digs
against the Pirates and sophomore Hannah
Schmidt (Catonsville, Md./Mount de Sales) contributed ten
kills for the Retrievers.
"This is a very satisfying win for us tonight," said head
coach Ian Blanchard. "We had to grind it out a
little bit, but we showed some toughness in someone else's
gym."
East Carolina (1-10) was paced by a double-double
from Hannah Allgood who hit 12 winners
and picked up 17 digs. Nicole
Wills and Kelly Derby were
also in double figures with 15 and 12 kills, respectively.
The hosts came out gunning in the opening set paced by five
kills from Wills and four apiece from Allgood and
Derby. East Carolina limited the Retrievers to an even
hitting percentage (.000) while recording five total blocks en
route to a 25-23 opening set win.
UMBC inserted junior setter Mallory
McIntyre (Winnipeg, Manitoba/St. Mary's Academy)) in the
second set and it paid instant dividends as the Retrievers rallied
to knot the match at one set each by claiming the second set
25-22. McIntyre finished the match with a contest-best
38 assists.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair from the start as the
two teams traded the lead eight times and were tied on 15 separate
occasions. Eventually the Retrievers held off three
Pirate set points, the final one at 26-25, and then won three
straight points to take the advantage with a 28-26 set victory.
The fourth set had a similar flow as neither team could jump out
to a lead, tying 11 more times, the last one coming at
19-19. From there UMBC ran off the final six points to
close out the match with a 25-19 win in the fourth.
UMBC is back in action Saturday morning at the Pirate
Invitational to take on former Big South rival Coastal Carolina at
10 a.m. The Retrievers then conclude weekend play with
an afternoon contest against Marshall at 4 p.m.
DAWG BITES
- UMBC
is now 3-1 all-time against ECU.
- This
was the first match between UMBC and ECU not played on a neutral
court.
- The
Retrievers and Pirates had not played each other since 2001.
- UMBC
has now won its last two road matches to level its record in road
contests to 3-3 on the season.
- Junior Ali
Goc (Oshawa, Ontario/R.S. McLaughlin) picked up 15 digs
against the Pirates and has now recorded double-digit digs in five
of the last six matches.
