Baltimore, Md. -- The UMBC Volleyball team continues pod play by welcoming Binghamton and UAlbany to Hilltop Circle on Sunday.
Last week, UMBC (4-1, 3-1 AE) used a sweep of host Binghamton (25-19, 25-14, 25-17) on Sunday morning to go to 3-0 in America East play for the first time since 2009. The Retrievers then stayed tough with defending champion UAlbany (5-1, 4-0) a few hours later, before falling in four sets (25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19).
Binghamton and UAlbany will play each other at 11 a.m., with UMBC then playing UAlbany at 2:30 and Binghamton at 6 p.m.
No fans are currently allowed at indoor events at UMBC, including Volleyball matches. All matches will have live video stream and live stats available for fans.
A pair of freshmen lead the Retrievers as two-time America East Setter of the Week and one time Rookie of the Week Aysia Miller (Mililani, Hawaii) directs the offense. Darina Kumanova (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) is one of the top offensive threats in the conference and was named America East Rookie of the Week to open the season, and followed that up by being named America East Player of the Week last week. Graduate student libero Loren Teter (Redondo Beach, Calif.) also earned America East Defensive Specialist of the Week last week.
Scouting Binghamton:
Binghamton opened their season at home last weekend by getting swept by both UMBC and UAlbany.
Binghamton went 0-23 and 0-10 in America East play in 2019, with UMBC sweeping both matchups.
The squad returns 12 players, including senior Francela Ulate, who was ranked first in the America East and 10th in the nation in service aces per set a season ago. The team also added three newcomers.
Scouting UAlbany:
The defending champion Great Danes are 5-1 on the season, including a 4-0 mark in America East play after defeating UMBC and Binghamton in four and five sets, respectively, last weekend. UAlbany was picked to repeat in the preseason coaches poll and and returns three players, Danielle Tedesco, Noa Brach and Malea Stanton, who earned 2019 All-Conference Selections. Tedesco was named First Team All-Conference after her 99 regular season blocks helped the Great Danes rank No. 21 in the nation in blocks. Brach and Stanton earned All-Rookie selections after they ranked third in the America East with 106 blocks and 601 assists, respectively.
