BALTIMORE— Zoya Trendafilova had 15 kills while Ashley Ramos pitched in with 14, and Brooke Hayden added 13 as UMBC outlasted Akron to win their Charm City Challenge match, 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 30-28) and snap a brief losing streak.

The Retrievers had dropped their last two matches, tough losses at Virginia Tech and Howard, before righting the ship on Friday versus Akron (1-3) in a morning match, a victory that head coach Ian Blanchard really liked.

"This morning's match was a really solid team effort," he said. "This team knows how to play with grit. Even when we may not be at our sharpest, we continue to fight. Wins like this morning give you the confidence to believe you can persevere in difficult to win situations."

UMBC also received a boost from setter Claudia Lopez who finished with 43 assists and consistently gave the offense a boost versus an Akron team which kept fighting throughout the four sets in the opening match of the tournament.

The Retrievers raced to a 6-1 lead in the first set and never looked back, rolling to the victory. Akron took control in the second set and took a 23-17 lead before the Retrievers pulled to within one (24-23) but came up short.

UMBC held on in the third set and scored the final three sets to win that one before the long fourth set. In that one, the two teams battled back and forth with ties at 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 before the Retrievers won the final two points. An Akron attack error gave UMBC the lead, and a Trendafilova kill sealed the victory.