UMBC

Freshman Sarah Ball was a seven-time Rookie of the Week award winner in 2005.

Baltimore, Md. – The UMBC volleyball team finished at 11-18 for the year and 4-8 in conference play, just missing the America East Tournament for the third consecutive year.  Despite missing the post season tournament a number of positives highlighted the Retrievers’ campaign, including Christine Skala breaking the all-time digs mark and freshman Sarah Ball earning seven rookie of the week honors. 

DAWG BITES

UMBC Finishes At 11-18, 4-8 in the America East, In Blanchard’s First Season

Head Coach Ian Blanchard’s first season came with a number of ups and downs, culminating in an 11-18 record while finishing 4-8 in league play and just missing the conference tournament for a third straight season.  For starters, Blanchard’s squad lost its top returning hitter in Emily Berman for the season after having shoulder surgery.  The loss of Berman opened the door, however, for freshman Sarah Ball to emerge as the outside hitter.  Ball won seven rookie of the week awards and finished in the top-three in kills per game and points per game in the conference standings.  Along with Ball, Blanchard saw the development of fellow freshman Ashley Hargrove, who ranked among the league leaders in hitting percentage, blocks and aces on the season. 

As a team, the Retrievers looked poised for their first conference berth after starting 3-3 in league play and hosting two schools in the second half that they had beat on the road in the first half of conference play.  UMBC, however, went on a six match slide, including losses to Stony Brook and New Hampshire that pushed the Retrievers out of the post season hunt heading into the final week of the season.  Now with a season under the Retrievers under Blanchard’s offense and only two seniors graduating, Blanchard has chance to build on this season in his second year. 

Christine Skala Exits With All-Time Digs Mark

UMBC senior Christine Skala went into the final match of the season needing 12 digs to tie and 13 digs to break the Retrievers’ all-time digs mark of 1,475 set by Tracey Cullins, who played her final year in 1991.  With 19 digs against Binghamton, Skala broke the 14 year-old record and set the new bar at 1,482 career digs.  Skala on the season recorded 466 digs, the fourth best single-season mark by a Retriever and became the first Retriever since 1997 to reach 400 digs in a season. 

Megan Gross Adds To Career Assists, Joins 1,000 Digs Club in Final Season

Senior Megan Gross added to her career assists total, as the No.2 ranked Retriever in the all-time assists chart finished her career in the black and gold with 3,647 career assists.  Earlier in the season, Gross tallied 21 digs at New Hampshire for her fourth double-double in a row and recorded eight digs against Albany as the Retriever setter surpassed 1,000 career digs, becoming the eighth Retriever all-time to accomplish that mark and the second in two years, joining current teammate and fellow senior Christine Skala.  Gross joins former Retriever Lanae Baker as the only two with at least 3,000 assists and 1,000 career digs in Retriever history.  Gross finished with a final digs total of 1,073.   

Sarah Ball Earns America East Best Seven Rookie of the Week Awards

UMBC freshman Sarah Ball earned seven America East Conference Rookie of the Week awards this past season, the most by a volleyball rookie in conference history.  Ball started the season with back-to-back rookie of the week awards before missing a week where she didn’t play do to illness.  Ball the following week earned co-rookie of the week awards that started a span of five consecutive weeks with the weekly honor. 

2005 America East Rookie of the Week Honors

Week                                                     Athlete

Aug. 29-Sep. 5                                     Sarah Ball

Sep. 6-11                                              Sarah Ball

Sep. 12-18                                            Lindsay Allman (Maine)/Caitlin Dowd (New Hampshire)

Sep. 19-25                                            Sarah Ball/Brianna Strong (Binghamton)

Sept. 26-Oct. 2                                     Sarah Ball

Oct. 3-9                                                  Sarah Ball

Oct. 10-16                                             Sarah Ball

Oct. 17-23                                             Sarah Ball

Oct. 24-30                                             Brianna Strong (Binghamton)

Oct. 31-Nov. 6                                       Amy Lawson (Maine)

Nov. 7-Nov. 13                                      Brianna Strong (Binghamton)

Freshmen Ball and Hargrove Among Team Leaders

UMBC freshmen Sarah Ball and Ashley Hargrove led UMBC in four of the seven major categories on the season.  Ball led UMBC with a 3.81 kills per game average and a 4.45 points per game average, both which ranked third in the America East Conference charts.  Hargrove led UMBC in hitting percentage at .275 (min. of 200 attacks) and service aces, averaging 0.44 per game.  Hargrove also ranked second in blocks at 0.90, just behind Amanda Willey, who averaged 1.00 bpg.  Christine Skala led the Retrievers in digs at 4.05 and Stacey Carroll in assists at 9.40 per game.  

Jennifer Wylie Primed For Future At Libero

UMBC junior Jennifer Wylie had a solid season as a defensive specialist and with some of the best ball control on the team, looks primed to fill the void of libero left by graduating senior Christine Skala.  With UMBC looking for an offensive bunch in the latter stages of the season, the Retrievers moved Skala to an outside hitter for three matches while Wylie took over at libero.  In those three matches, Wylie tallied UMBC’s best single-match for digs with 27 against Maine while notching 25 against Stony Brook and nine at home against Albany.  Wylie averaged 5.45 dpg over that three-match span.

Jessie Folk Emerges In Retriever Line-Up

Junior Jessie Folk emerged in the Retriever line-up, excelling over the final four matches of the season averaging 2.47 kpg and a .245 hitting percentage.  Folk hit double-digits in three of the four matches, including 11 kills and a .417 hitting percentage against Maine.  Folk became a more all-around player as well, recording her first double-double since the opening match of the season with 12 digs in the season finale, recording 10 service aces in the last two matches and 10 blocks over the last four.  Against Binghamton in the last match of the season, Folk tallied 17.5 points for a season-high, adding four service aces and a block to 13 kills.  The junior right side hitter joined UMBC’s single-season assisted blocks chart for the third consecutive season.      

Retriever Double-Doubles

Sarah Ball tallied her team-high 12^th double-double on the year in the final week while Jessie Folk notched her second of the year.  The following is a list of UMBC’s double-doubles this year.

2005 Double-Doubles

Name                                           Total 1         Total 2                                       Opponent

Sarah Ball                                   12 Kills        16 Digs                                      vs. Binghamton (11-13-05)

Jessie Folk                                 13 Kills        12 Digs                                      vs. Binghamton (11-13-05)

Megan Gross                              42 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. Binghamton (11-13-05)

Sarah Ball                                   12 Kills        17 Digs                                      vs. Stony Brook (11-6-05)

Megan Gross                              47 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. Stony Brook (11-6-05)

Megan Gross                              22 Assists  14 Digs                                      vs. Albany (10-28-05)

Megan Gross                              33 Assists  12 Digs                                      vs. New Hampshire (10-23-05)

Sarah Ball                                   11 Kills        15 Digs                                      vs. Albany (10-15-05)

Sarah Ball                                   17 Kills        14 Digs                                      vs. New Hampshire (10-14-05)

Megan Gross                              45 Assists  21 Digs                                      vs. New Hampshire (10-14-05)

Megan Gross                              30 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. Loyola (Md.) (10-11-05)

Megan Gross                              42 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. Stony Brook (10-9-05)

Megan Gross                              47 Assists  14 Digs                                      vs. Hartford (10-7-05)

Sarah Ball                                   17 Kills        14 Digs                                      vs. Morgan State (9-23-05)

Megan Gross                              23 Assists  16 Digs                                      vs. Coppin State (9-20-05)

Stacey Carroll                             55 Assists  12 Digs                                      vs. Fairfield (9-16-05)

Sarah Ball                                   23 Kills        10 Digs                                      vs. La Salle (9-10-05)

Stacey Carroll                             39 Assists  18 Digs                                      vs. La Salle (9-10-05)

Sarah Ball                                   21 Kills        14 Digs                                      vs. Delaware (9-6-05)

Stacey Carroll                             50 Assists  12 Digs                                      vs. Delaware (9-6-05)

Stacey Carroll                             35 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. TCU (9-3-05)

Sarah Ball                                   17 Kills        11 Digs                                      vs. TCU (9-3-05)

Stacey Carroll                             59 Assists  11 Digs                                      vs. Cal Poly (9-2-05)

Sarah Ball                                   24 Kills        14 Digs                                      vs. Cal Polyl (9-2-05)

Stacey Carroll                             55 Assists  10 Digs                                      vs. Loyola (Md.) (9-2-05)

Sarah Ball                                   19 Kills        17 Digs                                      vs. Loyola (Md.) (9-2-05)

Sarah Ball                                   14 Kills        11 Digs                                      vs. Villanova (8-27-05)

Megan Gross                              44 Assists  15 Digs                                      vs. Northeastern (8-27-05)

Jessie Folk                                 15 Kills        13 Digs                                      vs. Northeastern (8-27-05)

Sarah Ball                                   11 Kills        16 Digs                                      vs. Northeastern (8-27-05)

Retrievers In America East Charts

A number of Retrievers rank among the America East Conference chart leaders.  The following is how the Retrievers fair heading into the upcoming week. 

America East Charts (as of games thru 11-14-05)

Hitting Percentage

        Name                             Mark

8.     Ashley Hargrove          .275

Kills (per game)

        Name                             Mark

3.     Sarah Ball                     3.81

Assists (per game)

        Name                             Mark

6.     Stacey Carroll               9.40

7.     Megan Gross               8.13

Service Aces (per game)

        Name                             Mark

5.     Ashley Hargrove          0.44

8.     Stacey Carroll               0.41

Blocks (per game)

        Name                             Mark

2.     Amanda Willey             1.00

5.     Ashley Hargrove          0.90

7.     Katrina Carrick             0.88

Digs (per game)

Name                                     Mark

4.     Christine Skala            4.05

Points (per game)

Name                                     Mark

3.     Sarah Ball                     4.45

Angela Anderson Named To Embassy Suites All-Tournament Team

Redshirt freshman Angela Anderson was named to the Rutgers’ Embassy Suites Classic All-Tournament team after posting 4.33 kpg and 4.71 ppg at the tournament.  Anderson had a career match with 28 kills against Fairfield, hitting .352 with four digs and a block assist.  Anderson on the week averaged 4.00 kpg with two service aces, four total blocks and 12 digs. 

Ball Named to George Mason All-Tournament Team (9-4-05)

UMBC freshman Sarah Ball earned America East Rookie of the Week honors and was named to the George Mason Invitational All-Tournament team on Sept. 3.  Ball recorded 4.62 kpg and 3.23 digs per game (dpg) in the three matches at the invitational.  Ball recorded three double-doubles in the tournament to increase her streak to five matches with a double-double.

Carroll Emerges With Big Weekend At George Mason Invitational

Retriever sophomore Stacey Carroll has recorded a stellar weekend at the George Mason Invitational, recording 11.46 assists per game and 149 total assists in three matches.  Carroll recorded 59 assists Cal Poly to set the tournament mark for most assists in a single match.  Carroll also tied the mark for most service aces with five against Loyola (Md.). 

RETRIEVER RECORD BOOK

Click on the following link to see how the Retrievers from the 2005 season stack up against UMBC’s all-time best. UMBC Volleyball All-Time Records