BALTIMORE -- Freshman libero Hannah Howard continued to shine on defense as the UMBC Volleyball team (11-6, 5-1 AE) swept visiting Bryant (25-20, 25-12, 29-27) on Sunday at The Peake for its third-straight sweep.

Howard followed up her 25-dig performance on Thursday with 22 digs in only three sets against the Bulldogs. For the week, she averaged an incredible 7.83 digs per set.

Mia Bilusic had 12 kills on .379 hitting with error to pass the 1,000 kill mark for her career, while Kamani Conteh added 11 kills and four blocks.

Aysia Miller, who tallied her 1,000th career dig in the match, nearly picked up her second-straight double-double, picking up eight kills (.412 hitting), 20 assists and nine digs.

How it Happened:

• UMBC jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first, but Bryant (15-10, 3-3 AE) closed the gap to 9-8
• The Retrievers responded by extending the lead to as much as 18-13 before the Bulldogs again went on a run to trim the deficit to 22-20
• A service error, a block from Mila Ilieva and Laila Wooldridge and a kill from Bilusic would give UMBC the set
• The second set started similar to the first as the Retrievers jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but this time Bryant had no answer as the lead was never less than six the rest of the way
• The Bulldogs used an 8-0 run in the third to go up 14-6, and they eventually led 18-10 before UMBC would go on a run
• With Howard serving, the Retrievers reeled off seven straight points to cut the deficit to 18-17
• The visitors responded with a 5-3 run to go up 23-20
• UMBC, however, would get a kill from Bilusic, a block from Ilieva and Bilusic, and back-to-back aces from Miller to suddenly have match point.
• Bryant would score the next two to have a set point of its own, but back-to-back combo blocks from Conteh and Ilieva gave the Retrievers a second match point
• The two teams then alternated points until a kill by Julija Grubisic Cabo and an attack error gave the Retrievers the set and match

Ilieva finished with a match-best five blocks, while Serin Maden added 15 assists and six digs.

UMBC travels to New Hampshire next Sunday