UMBC

Emily Vandegrift had three double-double las week

BALTIMORE – The UMBC volleyball team begins its 2012 America East season this Friday with a trip to Upstate New York to face Binghamton.  The first ball between the Retrievers and Bearcats is set for 7 p.m. at West Gymnasium.

Scouting the Retrievers

UMBC (7-10) finished non-schedule play last weekend by going 2-1 at the Pirate Invitational hosted by East Carolina.  The Retrievers opened tournament play with a four-set victory over the host Pirates on Friday night before taking down former Big South rival Coastal Carolina on Saturday morning.  In the finale, UMBC won the opening set, but eventually fell to Marshall 3-1.

Earlier in the week the Retrievers won their first five-set contest of the year, holding off a St. Francis (Pa.) rally to down the Red Flash on the road.

Freshman Sherelle Walker (New Freedom, Pa./Susquehannock) totaled 52 kills for the week and was named both the America East Player of the Week and Rookie of the week, in addition to receiving a spot on the Pirate Invitational All-Tournament Team.  The rookie outside hitter leads the team and is fifth in the conference with 180 kills on the year, good for a 2.95 kills per set average.

Reclaiming her spot at setter after recovering from a head injury, junior Mallory McIntyre (Winnipeg, Manitoba/St. Mary’s Academy) was selected as the conference Setter of the Week after also receiving a spot on the All-Tournament squad.  In both of UMBC’s two wins in Greenville, N.C., McIntyre set a career-high with 38 assists, while also scooping up ten digs against ECU for her first career double-double.

Meanwhile, outside hitter Emily Vandegrift (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) recorded a double-double in each of UMBC’s wins last week.  The junior began the week with a ten kill, ten dig effort at St. Francis (Pa.) and then backed up an 11 kill, 17 dig performance against East Carolina with a 18 kill, 15 dig contest against Coastal.

On the back row, junior Ali Goc (Oshawa, Ontario/R.S. McLaughlin) continues to provide stability for the Retrievers and picked up a team-best 57 digs last week.  For the year Goc leads UMBC with 209 digs and is currently fifth in the America East averaging 3.27 digs per set.

Scouting the Bearcats

Binghamton improved to 3-12 on the season by beating in-state rival and BIG EAST foe Syracuse in five sets on the road on Wednesday night. Down two sets to none, the Bearcats rallied to force the tie-breaking set and then felled the Orange with a 15-13 final set win.  The victory was Binghamton’s first over  Syracuse as a Division I school.

Senior hitter Iva Partaleva led the Bearcats with 19 kills and a .368 hitting efficiency while Kristin Hovie and Grace Vickers both notched 15 winners.  Hovie also scooped up 11 digs to record the double-double.

Partaleva has paced the Bearcat offense all season with 209 kills, good for third place in the America East.  She has also averaged 0.28 service aces per set, the same as teammate Xiomara Ortiz, to rank eighth in the conference.

All-Time Series

UMBC trails the all-time series with Binghamton 13-9 but has won the last five meetings with the Bearcats, including a sweep of last year’s season series.  The Retrievers last lost to the Bearcats on Nov. 7, 2009 when Binghamton came into the RAC Arena and swept the contest in three sets.

Last year, UMBC swept Binghamton at home on Sept. 30 in its second contest of the conference schedule.  Later in the season, the Retrievers won a hard fought four-set match in New York to sweep the season meetings.  Emily Vandegrift led the visitors with a double-double (14 kills, 10 digs) in the second match while Iman Kennedy was also in double figures for the Retrievers with 11 put-aways.

Retriever Stat Pack

Season Highs:

Double-Doubles: