Baltimore, Md. -- The UMBC Volleyball team (7-6) returns to the RAC Arena to finish the home non-conference part of the schedule against Howard (2-11) at 7:00 pm on Tuesday. The Retrievers have won six of their past seven matches.
Scouting the Retrievers:
UMBC is coming off an impressive showing at the George Washington Tournament over the weekend. The Retrievers dropped a heart-breaking five-set matchup with Delaware to begin the tournament on Friday, but battled back to earn a split on the day as they took down Holy Cross in four sets. They would end the tournament by sweeping the host George Washington on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman outside hitter Carmen Freeman (Memphis, Tenn./St. Mary's) earned tournament MVP honors, as she averaged 12.3 kills and 14.6 digs per match in the tournament. Senior outside hitter Ashley Ramos (Orlando, Florida/Liberty/Monroe JC) earned her second consecutive All-Tournament Team honors, averaging 9.3 kills per match and hitting an average of .466.
Freeman and Ramos lead the team offensively with 123 and 105 kills, respectively. Junior setter Krytsia Negron (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Colegio Adianez) leads the team with 299 assists on the year. Defensively, Kristin Watson (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) has a team high 164 digs.
Scouting the Lady Bison:
Howard, the two-time defending MEAC champion, went 26-6 in 2016, but is struggling early in 2017. They are the midst of a four match losing streak, after dropping all three games at the D.C. Classic over the weekend. They hosted Iowa from the Big Ten on Friday, taking the first set before dropping three straight very close sets, and then fell in four to princeton and three to American.
The Lady Bison are lead offensively by Khaila Donaldson who has racked up 183 kills on the season, while Tamia Dockery leads the team in hitting percentage with a .373 and assists with 485. Defensively, Dockery also leads the team with 131 digs.
Inside the Matchup:
UMBC holds a 21-5 advantage over Howard, however, the Lady Bison have won two straight in the series, including a four set win in D.C. last season.
There will be no live video stream available for this match, however, fans can follow the live stats for the game at Umbc.statbroadcast.com, and also follow the action live on Twitter @UMBCVolleyball.
