UMBC

Sophomore Ashley Oscars tallied a season-high 24 kills and added 11 digs in the five-set win over Albany.

BALTIMORE—The UMBC volleyball team won their tenth straight home match as they defeated defending America East Conference champion Albany, 3-2 (24-30, 32-30, 21-30, 30-27, 15-11), in a nail-biting five-set match on Friday at the RAC Arena.

The Retrievers (19-5, 4-1 America East) have won their last three matches, while the Great Danes (13-7, 3-2 America East) have not been able to record back-to-back wins since New Hampshire halted their 10-match win streak.

Three Retrievers tallied double-doubles in the match, including sophomore Ashley Oscars (Bakersfield, Calif./Liberty) who came just one kill away from her career match-high as she tallied 24 kills and 11 digs, while also adding two assisted blocks.

Sophomore Kira Giles (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/Glenlawn) put up a career-high 68 assists along with 18 digs and three block assists for her 11^th double-double of the season.

Freshman Sabrina Hoeks (Olympia, Wash./AG West Black Hills) also added a double-double with 14 kills and 18 digs, as well as two assisted blocks.

Amanda Cowdrey led the Great Danes with 18 kills and 18 assists, while also recording two service aces and one block assist.

The Retrievers took an early, 3-2, lead over the Great Danes in game one, but saw themselves down 8-4 after a 6-1 run by Albany.  Both teams traded points with Albany taking a few more points en route to the eventual 30-24 win.

Game two saw the Great Danes with an early 9-5 lead, but after a six-point serving run behind junior Angela Anderson (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Bishop Montgomery) the Retrievers saw themselves up, 11-9 over the Great Danes.

The Retrievers wouldn’t relinquish that lead for the rest of the game, though Albany did knot the score twelve times before the Retrievers pulled out the ultimate 32-30 victory to even the match at one game apiece.

The Great Danes never led in game three as they committed just three errors for a .250 hitting percentage, as compared to the Retrievers’ eight errors and .116 hitting percentage, on the way to a 30-21 decision and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The Retrievers finally took a 6-3 lead to start game four and didn’t see themselves at a deficit until a Retriever error followed by Great Dane kill put Albany at a 26-25 advantage. 

The teams traded points until a kill by Hoeks tied the score at 27 points each and Oscars proceeded to serve out the remaining three points for the 30-27 win and match equalizer.

The Retrievers then saw their first match of the season forced to five games and struggled at first against the Great Danes.  Albany led by two points until an Anderson kill and Great Dane error knotted the score at four points apiece.

The Retrievers then proceeded to take control of the game on yet another Albany error for the 5-4 lead.  A kill by Kamisha Kellem evened the score once again, but a kill by Oscars gave the Retrievers a 6-5 lead and sparked a two-point serving run behind senior Stacey Carroll’s (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) serve for the 8-5 lead.

The teams then traded points until the Great Danes committed an attack error after an Oscars kill to give the Retrievers the 13-9, four-point lead, which was followed by one point each for the Retrievers and Great Danes to put the Retrievers up 14-10.

A kill by Albany made the score 14-11, but after Brooke Stanley’s ball handling error, the Retrievers emerged victorious, 15-11 for the set and match point win.

The Great Danes began the match with an impressive 75% sideout efficiency in game one, but the Retrievers countered as they recorded an astonishing 83% efficiency in the fifth set.

The Retrievers travel to take on Binghamton next Friday at 6:00 p.m. and then host the Bearcats on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 4:00 p.m.