UMBC

2005 America East Rookie of the Year Sarah Ball and the Retrievers open the 2006 season on August 25th.

Baltimore, Md. - The UMBC volleyball team announced its 2006 schedule today, highlighted by a trip to play the National Champion University of Washington Huskies on September 8.  UMBC opens the season at the Colgate Tournament on August 25 and begins America East Conference play at Hartford on September 29.  Also available online is the Retrievers’ 2006 Prospectus found in the information center of the Retrievers’ Volleyball homepage.

“I like the way our schedule is set up this year because it allows us to build momentum and with a number of home games late in the year we can make a strong push at the conference tournament,” Blanchard said.  “Early on we get an opportunity to play the defending national champion in Washington and a number of other strong programs that will force us to compete at a high level.” 

The Retrievers have a tough stretch to open the year with the majority of the first half of the season away from the confines of RAC Arena.  UMBC will play 10 games early on in tournaments, with three matches at the Colgate Tournament, four at the Washington Tournament and three at the Villanova Tournament.

UMBC will play its first home match on September 5 when they host Delaware and open their home America East Conference slate with Maine on October 6.  UMBC will play at least eight home contests at UMBC, hosting all six conference foes along with Delaware and Navy.  The Retrievers down the stretch play seven of their final 12 games at home.   

Highlighting UMBC’s schedule is three contests against NCAA Tournament participants last year.  UMBC plays two games against America East Conference Champion Binghamton and takes on defending national champion Washington.

Washington has made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament dating back to 2002 and culminating in the programs first NCAA Championship in 2005.   The Huskies, who posted a 32-1 record in 2005, return 11 letterwinners from their national championship team.  UMBC will also face Gonzaga, Portland State and North Dakota State University in the tournament.

The America East Conference season includes seven total programs that compete twice against one another each year, with a home and away contest for a total of 12 regular season conference matches.  The top four teams at the end of the regular season will compete for the league championship to be held at the regular season champion and No. 1 seed’s home court the weekend of November 17-18.  The winner of the conference tournament receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.