BOSTON -- Freshman
Hannah Howard was named Libero of the Year and headlined seven total Retrievers earning All-Conference honors, the America East announced on Thursday afternoon.
In-addition to the major award, Howard also was named to the All-Rookie Team and the All-Conference Second Team. Howard is the third straight Retriever to be named Libero of the Year, joining Loren Teter (2021) and
Aysia Miller (2022).
Mia Bilusic and
Kamani Conteh repeated as All-Conference First Team selections, while Miller and
Mila Ilieva made a second-straight appearance on the All-Conference Second Team. Conteh and Miller joined
Michela De Marzi on the All-Academic Team. It was the second-straight All-Academic honor for Conteh, while it was the third-straight for Miller.
Julija Grubisic Cabo earned a spot alongside Howard on the All-Rookie Team.
The coaching staff, led by
Kasey Crider, was also voted as the co-Coaching Staff of the Year, alongside Bryant's staff.
The UMBC Volleyball team celebrated Senior Day in style last Sunday with a sweep of visiting UAlbany (25-20, 25-23, 25-14) to earn the outright America East regular season title.
The Retrievers finished the regular season 15-7 overall and 8-2 in America East play.
Scouting Bryant:
- The Bulldogs are in the fourth seed for the America East Volleyball Championships with a conference record of 6-4.
- Bryant last played UNH on November 10 where the Bulldogs were swept 3-0.
- Bryant trails UMBC in conference in points (16.52 pts/s), assists (11.65 a/s), kills (12.53 k/s), and blocks (2.29 b/s).
- The Bulldogs had the most service aces in the conference with 234 in 116 sets.
- Arianna Ugolini, an All-Conference First Team selection along with teammate Aubrey Lapour, is second in the conference with 435.5 points averaging 3.92 points a set
UMBC swept both matchups this season and leads the all-time series 5-1.
