UMBC

Ashley Hargrove tallied seven kills with two service aces and two blocks Friday night.

Baltimore, Md. – The UMBC women’s volleyball team (6-8) out dueled Morgan State (3-12) for a 3-1 (30-22, 28-30, 30-27, 30-26) win on Friday night at UMBC RAC Arena.  The Retrievers were led by 17 kills and 14 digs from Sarah Ball (Winnepeg, Canada/Sisler) and 20 digs by Christine Skala (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale South).

The Retrievers struggled in the first two sets hitting .027 (9 kills, 8 errors) in game one and .000 (11 kills, 11 errors) in game two.  The Bears did not fair much better hitting negative .088 (8 kills, 11 errors) and .104 (13 kills, 8 errors) in game two as the two teams split the first two sets.

The Retriever offense came around in the final two sets, hitting above .200 in both sets as Ball tallied a combined 10 kills during that stretch to lead UMBC to the four-set victory.

The Retrievers took advantage of 18 service errors and eight ball handling errors by the Bears, who hit .105 as a team with 51 kills and 34 errors.  Esther Johnson led the way for Morgan State with 20 kills while Courtney Bruner tallied 17 kills and 10 digs and Mandisa Richardson recorded 10 kills and 11 digs.  Ashley Preston dug a match-high 26 balls. 

Julia Hood (Charlotte, N.C./West Charlotte) came off the bench for the final two sets, lifting UMBC with seven kills and a service ace.  Freshman Ashley Hargrove (Covington, Wash./Kentwood) tallied seven kills, two aces, four digs and two total blocks for UMBC as well.  The Retrievers out blocked the Bears nine to five in the match.  UMBC as a team in .120 with 47 kills and 28 errors. 

The Retrievers are in the midst of a four-match home streak with its next one coming Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in RAC Arena against George Washington.