After earning a share of its first ever America East regular season title, the UMBC Volleyball team (10-3, 9-3 AE) heads north to face defending champion UAlbany (10-4, 9-3 AE) for the America East Championship on Friday night. First serve is slated for 7 p.m., and fans can watch on AmericaEast.TV.

UMBC and UAlbany met twice this season, with the Great Danes taking both matches. UAlbany won in four sets at a neutral site contest in Binghamton on March 7 (25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19), before edging out UMBC in a five-set thriller the following weekend (25-22, 25-21, 15-25, 21-25, 16-14) in Baltimore. 

The two teams swept all the major America East awards, with Darina Kumanova (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) being named Rookie of the Year, Aysia Miller (Mililani, Hawaii) earning Setter of the Year, and the coaching staff being named Coaching Staff of the Year. UAlbany sophomore Kamara Kelly was named player of the year and libero Charlotte Macken was voted Defensive Specialist of the Year. 

Anouk Van Noord (Amsterdam, Netherlands) joined Kumanova on the All-Conference First Team, while Miller earned All-Conference Second Team. Both Kumanova and Miller were also named to the All-Rookie Team. Kelly was joined on the First Team by middle blocker and teammate Danielle Tedesco, while Macken earned a spot on the Second Team. 

The Great Danes are the defending champions, and were voted to repeat as champions in the pre-season poll. That same poll had UMBC predicted to finish fifth out of seven teams. 

The Retrievers last made the Championship match in 2013 when they swept UAlbany in the semifinals, but then fell at New Hampshire in five sets. They were swept in the 2010 Champiosnhip by host UAlbany, and also dropped a five-set thriller to the Great Danes in the 2006 Championship. UMBC last made the postseason in 2016 when it finished second, but was swept in the semifinals by UAlbany at UNH. The Retrievers last win at UAlbany was in the 2016 regular season. 

UMBC is seeking its first NCAA berth since 1998.