BALTIMORE – The UMBC volleyball squad opened their defense of their America East title by defeating a veteran Bryant squad, 3-0, at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
The Retrievers (8-5, 1-0) have won three consecutive matches and seven of their last nine. Bryant, the 2021 Northeast Conference regular season champions, dropped their America East debut and fell to 10-8, 0-1.
The Retrievers prevailed, 27-25, 25-20, 25-14, to earn its first three-set victory of the campaign.
Sophomore outside hitter
Mia Bilusic led UMBC with 13 kills, while senior outside hitter
Kamani Conteh added 11 kills and posted a double-double with 10 digs.
UMBC has now won 16 consecutive regular season America East matches, 19 in a row versus league foes (including league tournament play) and 13 straight at Chesapeake Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Set 1 – Bryant jumped out to a 5-1 lead and maintained a 22-19 advantage in the latter stages of the set. Three straight UMBC points, capped by an
Aysia Miller ace, knotted the score at 22-all, but Bryant earned a set point at 24-23. But a kill by Weronicka Wrzesinska knotted the score at 24-all. On their second set point, a combined block by
Emily Ferketic and
Michela De Marzi gave the hosts the 27-25 win.
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Set 2 – The Bulldogs took an early 9-3 lead, but UMBC chipped away to knot the set at 18-all. After a Bryant point, the Retrievers finished the set on a 7-1 run to prevail, 25-20. Bilusic had two of the final three kills of the set.
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Set 3 – The Retrievers embarked on a massive 13-3 run to lead 19-9 in the third set. UMBC hit .476 in the set and out-blocked the visitors, 6-1.
Conteh added three service aces as UMBC amassed eight in the three-setter.
Sophomore
Mila Ilieva shone with a team high eight blocks and added seven kills, hitting .545. Miller led the team with 14 digs, while serving brilliantly throughout the match, and freshman setter
Serin Maden contributed 29 assists.
UMBC hits the road for the next two weekends, beginning with a match at Binghamton on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7:00 p.m.
