BALTIMORE – An iconic season for UMBC volleyball kept on rolling along before a spirited crowd on their home court.
 
The Retrievers defeated the fourth-seeded Stony Brook Seawolves, 3-2, in an incredibly hard-fought match to advance to the America East Championship match against second-seeded UAlbany on Saturday. The match featured 57 ties and 25 lead changes.
 
UMBC (18-11) swept Stony Brook (13-14), taking six of seven sets in the regular season, but the two teams just saw one another on Long Island a week ago. The visitors passed brilliantly throughout and won more of the critical points in sets one and three.    
 
But the Retrievers hit a match-high .295 in the fourth set to start the rally and scored the final three points in a 17-15 fifth set.
 
UMBC prevailed, 22-25, 27-25, 25-27, 25-19, 17-15 and will have the opportunity to defend their 2020-21 title on Saturday.  
 
Freshman Mia Bilusic (Zagreb, Croatia), the America East Rookie of the Year, recorded her fifth match with 20 or more kills, amassing a career-high 29. Sophomore Aysia Millier (Mililani, Hawaii) posted a career-high 17 kills and a season-high 24 digs for the Retrievers.
 
Graduate student Loren Teter (Redondo Beach, Calif.) made a series of brilliant plays, coming up with 31 digs. Her 471 digs are currently the sixth–most in a single season in school history.
 
It was just UMBC's fourth five-set match of the year and the first since September 2.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
·       Similar to the September 25 match-up, Stony Brook captured the first set. After a Kayla Tomas (Silver Spring, Md./Blake) ace off the tape gave the Retrievers a 22-21 lead, SBU reeled off four consecutive points to capture the set. It was the first time the Retrievers had surrendered the first set to a league foe since that conference opener.
  
·       In a dramatic second set, the Retrievers rallied from a 23-21 deficit and fought off a set point at 25-26 to capture it, 27-25. SBU opened the set with a 6-0 lead, extending their scoring streak to 10-0 over two sets. But a 9-2 response from UMBC gave the hosts their first lead at 9-8. Bilusic's kill off the block fell just out for SBU and a combo-block from Grace Rigsbee (Suwanee, Gal.) and Beste Ayhan (Istanbul, Turkey) gave the Retrievers a 26-25 lead. On UMBC's second set point, Bilusic rammed her attempt off the block again and UMBC won the set, 27-25.     
 
·       The Seawolves turned the tables in the third set, fighting off a set point at 25-24 and getting a block on set point to win, 27-25.
 
·       UMBC used a 7-1 run to transform a 15-all tie into a 22-16 lead and finished out the set, 25-19.  UMBC hit a match-best .295 in the fourth set.  
 
·       Neither team led by more than two points in the deciding set. The Retrievers had a pair of set points at 14-12 and 14-13, but Stony Brook fought them off to knot the set at 14-all. Then the Seawolves had a chance to advance with a 15-14 lead, but committed a service error and a hitting error, setting up UMBC's third match point. Rigsbee responded with her 13th kill to set off a wild celebration on the court and in the stands.