The UMBC volleyball team (17-8, 7-3 America East) will make its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships when the Retrievers take on No. 4 regional seed Penn State at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. on Friday, Dec. 2.

UMBC will play the nightcap after Central Florida and Yale do battle at 5:00 p.m. The Retrievers-Nittany Lions match-up will start no earlier than 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
The two winners will meet on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

A RARE THREE-PEAT

• The second-seeded Retrievers captured a third-straight America East crown with a dominant sweep of fourth-seeded New Hampshire (25-22, 25-19, 25-18) at Binghamton University's West Gymnasium on Sunday, Nov. 20.
• The Retrievers became the first league program to capture three consecutive titles since New Hampshire recorded four in a row from 2013-16.
• UMBC captured its first two America East crowns in the spring and fall of 2021. The latest victory was the second time that the Retrievers triumphed as the No. 2 seed, outside the confines of Chesapeake Arena. It was the first title for new Head Coach Kasey Crider and his staff.

UMBC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM SELECTIONS

• UMBC's Mila Ilieva (Vidin, Bulgaria) was named the championship's Most Outstanding Player. The sophomore middle blocker had nine kills on .563 hitting with no errors and seven blocks in the title match, after tallying 11 kills on .500 hitting (two errors) and seven blocks in the semifinal win over Bryant on Saturday.
• Junior libero Aysia Miller (Mililani, Hawaii) had 11 digs and six assists to earn a spot on the All-Championship team, and was joined on the team by senior outside hitter Kamani Conteh (New Castle, Del.), who tallied ten kills and five blocks in the title match.

UMBC ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS

• Five Retrievers earned 2022 America East All-Conference honors, as voted on by the league's coaches.
• Aysia Miller earned Defensive Specialist of the Year honors, and was named to the league's Second Team. The award was the second major honor for Miller, as she earned Setter of the Year honors as a freshman in the fall of 2021. 
• Sophomore outside hitter Mia Bilusic earned her second consecutive First Team honor, and was joined on the First Team by Kamani Conteh. The honor was Conteh's second league award; she earned All-Rookie Team accolades in 2019.
• Mila Ilieva joined Miller on the Second Team, a year after earning America East All-Rookie Team honors.    
• Freshman setter Serin Maden was named to the league's All-Rookie Team.
• The America East also named Miller (3.88, biological sciences) and Conteh (3.77, media and communication studies) to the All-Academic Team. It was Miller's second consecutive academic honor and the first for Conteh.

RETRIEVER NOTEBOOK
·       The Retrievers won 12 of their last 15 matches and are 16-5 in their last 21.
·       Their longest winning streak of the season was eight (Sept. 20-Oct. 28).
·       UMBC's 2022 road record is 6-4 and its neutral court mark is 4-2.
·       The Retrievers have posted three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2006-08.
·       The Retrievers played three other 2022 tournament squads, falling at USC, 3-0, and to Colgate, 3-0, on Aug. 27, but defeating James Madison, 3-2, at home on Sept. 4.    
·       UMBC reached an RPI high of 68 (of 344 NCAA Division I programs) on Oct. 23. They now sit at No. 73.
 
·       2022 America East weekly honorees
    o   Sophomore Mia Bilusic, So, Player of the Week, Sept. 13, Oct. 4
    o   Senior Kamani Conteh, Sr., Player of the Week, Sept. 20
    o     Freshman Serin Maden, Fr., Setter of the Week, Aug. 30, Sept. 7, Sept. 13
    o   Junior Aysia Miller, Jr., Defensive Specialist of the Week, Sept. 7, Sept. 27
    o   RS Sophomore Michela DeMarzi, R-So, Defensive Specialist of the Week, Nov. 14
 
·       UMBC currently leads America East in assists (11.99), kills (12.83) and service aces (1.79) per set.
·       Bilusic (3.98) and Conteh (3.87) are 1-2 in the league in kills per set. Bilusic is also tops in service aces (0.44), while Maden is far and away the leader in assists at 9.54 assists per set through 96 sets in 2022.
·       Bilusic earned America East First Team, All-Rookie Team and Rookie of the Year honors in the fall of 2021.  She needs one more kill to reach 800 in her two-year tenure.
·       Conteh has more than doubled her previous season high in kills, putting away 375 in 2022, after recording 175 in her freshman campaign of 2019. She produced 91 kills in 2020-21 and 2021 combined. 
·       Junior Aysia Miller has retaken the conference lead in digs per set (4.17) – the libero is playing her third different position (setter, outside hitter, libero) in three seasons on Hilltop Circle. Miller's 409 digs are 17th-best for a single season in school history.  
·       Despite not having played the setter role since 2020, Miller has posted triple figures in assists in all three seasons and is closing in on 1,000 career assists (995). She earned America East All-Tournament Team honors in the fall of 2021.
·       Ilieva is second in the conference in blocks per set at 1.27. She earned America East All-Rookie Team honors in the fall of 2021. Her 122 assisted blocks are second-best in a single season in school history, just four behind Beste Ayhan, who recorded 126 last season. Her 126 total blocks in 2022 rank third on UMBC's all-time single season list.
·       De Marzi recorded a career-high 10 blocks at UAlbany on Nov. 13 and posted a total of 17 in the two final weekend matches of the regular season. She earned America East All-Tournament Team honors in the spring of 2021. 
·       Through matches of Nov. 27, Bilusic was 37th in the nation in services aces per set.
·       The Retrievers are 30th nationally in aces per set.

ALSO NOTABLE
·       The UMBC volleyball program becomes the fifth in school history to capture three consecutive America East championships. Retriever softball has a current streak of three (2019, 2021-22), while men's soccer (2012-14) and women's swimming and diving (2015-17) also won three in a row. UMBC's men's swimming and diving squads captured eight straight America East titles from 2004-11.  

QUICK GLANCE AT RECORD SITUATIONS
·       Three-Set Matches: 5-3                      Four-Set Matches: 8-2             Five-Set Matches: 4-3
·       Winning/Losing First Set: 13-1/4-7     

UMBC NCAA DIVISION I CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
·       UMBC has now won five conference titles in three different leagues, also capturing the Big South crown in 1995 and the Northeast Conference title in 1998.
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS 
·       1995 (L, 0-3, @Central Florida)
·       1998 (L, 0-3 @USC)
·       2020 (L, 0-3, vs. Pepperdine, match played in spring 2021)
·       2021 (L, 0-3 @Pitt)
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THE MATCH-UP VERSUS THE NITTANY LIONS
·       Penn State (24-7), which is ranked No. 11 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, received an at-large bid to the event and will play in the tournament for the 42^nd consecutive season dating back to the first time it was held in 1981. It is the only women's volleyball program in the country to appear in every NCAA Division I Tournament.
·       UMBC has met Penn State on three occasions, falling on a neutral court in 1981, and dropping 3-0 decisions in University Park in 2004 and 2018.
·       Graduate student Kashauna Williams leads the Nittany Lions with 3.42 kills per set. Junior middle blocker Allie Holland is averaging 1.37 blocks per set, the 27th-best figure in the country.  Overall, PSU is 11th nationally in blocks per set.

MATCH-UPS VERSUS CENTRAL FLORIDA AND YALE
·       The Retrievers lost twice to UCF by 3-0 counts with both matches played in the 1995 season. The second match occurred in an NCAA Play-In game.
·       UMBC is 1-4 versus Yale. The two teams have not competed since a Yale win in 2004.

LINKS

·       'Complete turnaround' propelled UMBC volleyball to third straight America East title, NCAA Tournament berth (Baltimore Sun, Nov. 29, 2022)

·       Hawaiian culture the root of UMBC volleyball star Aysia Miller's valuable versatility: 'It's a rare thing' (Baltimore Sun, Oct. 14, 2022 ) 

·       New UMBC Volleyball HC Kasey Crider Brings Innovative Approach To Coaching (Press Box, June 22, 2022)