UMBC

Amanda Willey recorded 14 assisted blocks on Friday as UMBC defeated Maine, 3-1.

Baltimore, Md. - The UMBC women’s volleyball team (9-9, 2-1 America East) opened their home portion of the America East Conference regular season on Friday evening with a 3-1 (30-15, 27-30, 30-26, 30-23) win over Maine (4-12, 2-1 AE) at UMBC RAC Arena.  The Retriever defense led the way with 20.5 team blocks, including 14 assisted blocks by junior Amanda Willey. 

After taking a 20-11 lead over the Black Bears in the first set, the Retrievers’ blocking came into play, fueling five of UMBC’s final 10 points as UMBC took the first set 30-15.  Sarah Ball and Ashley Oscars assisted on four blocks each while Ashley Hargrove and Amanda Willey assisted on three blocks each.  The Retriever defense kept Maine in negative figures hitting as the Black Bears with 13 errors and seven kills hit .171.  The UMBC offense was led by Ball, Oscars and Angela Anderson with three kills each.

Maine responded in a big way in the second set as the Black Bears hit .300 with 21 kills and six errors.  Jessica Wolfenden tallied six kills to lead the attack while Amanda Armstrong and Amy Lawson tallied five kills each.  UMBC had their worst set blocking in game two with 2.5 team blocks. 

Willey, however, put UMBC back on track in the third game with five assisted blocks as the Retriever junior had a hand in all five blocks for UMBC.  Sarah Fillmore, who entered the match in the second set, got on track with six kills while Oscars put down five kills on six attacks in the set.  UMBC led 28-19 before Maine started to rally back behind the serve of Wolfenden.  Willey and Fillmore would stop the rally with a block to give UMBC a 29-25 advantage.  Fillmore finished the set with a kill off an assist from Ball.    

UMBC took a 15-10 lead on the Black Bears in the fourth set as Ashley Hargrove recorded a kill, handing the ball to Fillmore to serve.  Fillmore tallied back-to-back service aces and Hargrove and Oscars each notched kills as UMBC took a 19-10 lead.  Hargrove finished the match with a kill from Stacey Carroll to give UMBC the 30-23 win. 

Oscars finished with 16 kills and a .406 hitting percentage while Fillmore tallied 11 kills.  Sarah Ball and Stacey Carroll each tallied double-doubles.  Ball recorded 10 kills and 11 digs while Carroll handed out 41 assists and 13 digs. 

Maine was led by Lindsay Allman with 13 kills while Shelly Seipp handed out 45 assists. 

UMBC returns to action for a non-conference tilt against Georgetown on Tuesday at 7 p.m.