UMBC

Amanda Willey had six blocks and nine kills on Tuesday.

, Md. - The UMBC women’s volleyball team (3-2) dropped their home opener on Tuesday night at UMBC RAC Arena as Delaware (8-0) defeated the Retrievers in three sets, 30-22, 30-27, 30-22.  The Blue Hens with the victory extended their win streak to eight consecutive games to open the 2006 season. 

The Retrievers looked strong early but lost momentum through the mid point of the first set as three consecutive side outs by UMBC resultd in turning the serve back to the Blue Hens on three straight service aces.  UMBC was tied at 13-13 when the first service error occurred giving the Blue Hens a 14-13 lead.  Two points later Amanda Willey recorded a service error followed by Sarah Ball’s service error two point after Willey’s, giving the Blue Hens a 17-15 advantage. The Blue Hens would go on to rattle off a couple of scoring runs and take the first set, 30-22.

In set two the Blue Hens took a late five point advantage at 25-20 before UMBC closed the gap at two at 27-25 and 29-27.  The Blue Hens, however, would go ahead by two sets as Colleen Walsh scored a cross court kill to end the second set. 

The Blue Hens turned up the pressure in the third set as they jumped out to a 10-2 advantage and cruised to the 30-22 victory with a .289 hitting percentage and 17 kills in the set.  The Blue Hens added eight team blocks in the final set as well.  For the match Delaware recorded 13.5 team blocks. 

Walsh led the way as the Delaware junior notched a match-high 19 kills.  Walsh hit .372 with three errors on 43 attacks.  Megan Welch tallied 36 assists while Heather Ranck added 16 digs.  Kelly Matthias and Sue Wiker each had six total blocks.    

For UMBC freshman Sarah Fillmore tallied 10 kills.  Kira Giles recorded 32 assists and Jennifer Wylie dug 25 balls.  Giles recorded her third double-double with 14 digs as well.  Amanda Willey tallied nine kills and five blocks in the match as well.  UMBC was held to a team .126 hitting percentage. 

UMBC travels to the reigning national champion on Friday to play at the University of Washington Tournament.  The Retrievers will meet the No. 5 ranked Huskies to begin the four-match tournament.