BALTIMORE --
Claudia Llamas had 14 kills on .462 hitting with five blocks to lead a UMBC offense that hit .308 in a sweep of visiting NJIT (25-22, 25-20, 25-10) on Sunday.
The Retrievers clinched the match in style, hitting .467 with with 15 kills and one error in the third set alone. In the first set NJIT led most of the way, leading late 19-16, but UMBC ended the set on a 9-3 run to go up 1-0. The second set was back-and-forth as it was tied 16, but again, the Dawgs went on a late run, scoring nine of the final 13 points to go up 2-0. The Retrievers jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the third and never looked back to complete the sweep.Â
Natalie Harris had another double-double, tallying 12 kills and 10 digs (eight in the first set), while
Hannah Dobbs added 11 kills (.333 hitting), four digs, three aces, two blocks and an assist.
Grace Larrivee had six kills (.444 hitting) and five blocks, and fellow middle
Jalynn Brown picked up four kills (.500 hitting) and four blocks.
Hannah Howard had a match-high 18 digs with two aces, and
Isabel Ostvig tallied 38 assists and three blocks in the win.
Megan Hunter entered in the third set and had three assists and a dig, while
Ella McAllister had five digs,
Ema Djordjevic had an ace and a dig, and
Dasia Johnson tallied a kill and a block.
UMBC heads to Binghamton on Friday night for a rematch of its epic 2025 America East Semifinal victory.Â
