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Newark, N.J. -- Freshman Michela De Marzi (Milan, Italy) picked up 22 kills on .442 hitting to help lead the UMBC Volleyball team to a pair of four set wins over New Hampshire (18-25, 25-18, 28-26, 25-19) and host NJIT (25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 25-21) on Saturday.
With the victories, UMBC moves to 7-2 overall and 6-2 in America East play.
After dropping the first set to New Hampshire (3-3, 3-3 AE) UMBC dominated the second set to tie the match up. After a wild, 28-26, second set victory, the Retrievers led wire-to-wire in the fourth and final set to secure the victory. De Marzi finished with 10 kills on .333 hitting, with three blocks and three digs. Beste Ayhan (Istanbul, Turkey) had a career-high 10 kills on .667 hitting with no errors and seven blocks.
Anouk Van Noord (Amesterdam, Netherlands) led the match with 17 kills, while Emily Ferketic (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished with 10 kills, nine digs, four blocks and an ace. Freshman Aysia Miller (Mililani, Hawaii) earned the fourth double-double of her young career, tallying 42 assists and 15 digs, while classmate Darina Kumanova (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) had three kills, 14 digs and two blocks. Libero Loren Teter (Redondo Beach, Calif.) had 15 digs, while sophomore defensive specialist Kayla Tomas (Silver Spring, Md.) tallied six.
The Retrievers dominated the first two sets against NJIT (0-8, 0-7 AE), but the Highlanders led wire-to-wire in the third set to force a fourth set. UMBC, however, would win five of the final six points in the fourth to take the match.
De Marzi finished with 12 kills on .579 hitting with two blocks, while Kumanova picked up her fifth double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs. Van Noord again led UMBC with 13 kills, she also added three blocks and three digs. Tomas tallied a career-high 15 digs and a kill, while Miller added 34 assists and nine digs. Ferketic contributed with four blocks and two kills, and Teter added eight digs and four assists.
Kamani Conteh (New Castle, Del.) came off the bench and added two kills, while freshman Weronika Wrzesinska (Frednowy, Poland) picked up her first career assist. Ayhan finished with three kills, four blocks and a career-high four aces.
UMBC and NJIT will play again, tomorrow, at 10 a.m., and then the Retrievers will finish pod play with New Hampshire at 4 p.m.