Match Notes
Omaha, NE. -- The America East Champion UMBC Volleyball team will play in its first NCAA match since 1998 when it faces No.20 Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship on Wednesday in Omaha.
First serve is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT, and the match will air nationally on ESPN3.
The Retrievers (11-3, 9-3 AE) earned their first automatic bid to the tournament since 1998 after rallying to stun defending champions UAlbany in five sets on their home court on April 2.
UMBC was one of the youngest teams in the nation, with a roster that featured seven underclassmen, including five freshmen, and was picked to finish fifth out of seven teams in the preseason poll. The Retrievers, however, won a share of its first ever America East regular season title after going 10-3 overall and 9-3 in conference.
The Retrievers are led on offense by America East Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Conference outside Hitter Darin Kumanova (Plovdiv, Bulgaria). Kumanova had an outstanding performance in the championship match, finishing with 22 kills and 17 digs. For the season she excelled on both offense and defense as she finished second in the conference with 175 total kills and sixth in total digs with 165.
Aysia Miller (Mililani, Hawaii) was voted Setter of the Year, becoming the second Retriever to ever earn the award (Mallory McIntyre in 2012 and 2013). She also earned Second Team All-Conference and All-Rookie Team honors. Miller was named Setter of the Week a conference-best four times during the season, to go along with three Rookie of the Week awards. She finished second in the league in assists per set (10.8, playing 25 more sets than the leader), and had the most total assists (583).
Anouk Van Noord (Amsterdam, Netherlands) had a breakout campaign as she was named First Team All-Conference. The senior became an offensive force for the Retrievers, leading the conference in total kills (178) She finished third in the conference in total points (192.5) and was third in kills per set (3.7). Van Noord also earned a spot on the All-Academic Team, as she currently has a 3.88 GPA while pursuing a Psychology degree. She was also named America East Player of the Week the final weekend of the season.
Emily Ferketic (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was Top-10 in the conference in blocks and earned a spot on the All-Academic Team. The Physics major currently sports a 4.0 GPA.
Graduate student libero Loren Teter (Redondo Beach, Calif.) was named to the All-Championship Team after picking up a match and career-high 33 digs. Freshman Michela De Marzi (Milan, Italy) was also named to the All-Championship Team after picking up 14 kills on .480 hitting with three blocks. De Marzi also led the conference in hitting percentage, hitting .364 with 115 kills.
The coaching staff, led by head coach Cristina Robertson, was named America East Coaching Staff of the Year, and Robertson was named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year.
Scouting Pepperdine:
Pepperdine (16-3, 14-2 WCC) is one of three West Coast Conference teams to make the tournament. The Waves received an at-large bid after finishing one match behind No.16 national seed BYU (16-1, 15-1 WCC) in the race for the WCC auto-bid.
The Waves are led by two-time WCC Libero of the Year Madison Shields and WCC Freshman of the Year Meg Brown. Shannon Scully, Rachel Ahrens and Isabel Zelaya were all named First-Team All-WCC, in addition to Shields and Brown.
Pepperdine's lone WCC losses this year were to the other two WCC teams to make the field, as they split with both BYU (W, 3-0; L, 3-2) and San Diego (W, 3-1; L, 3-1). The only other loss for the Waves this season came in a five-set loss at No.12 Baylor (19-6, 13-3 Big 12), who the winner of this match will face in the second round.
