UMBC

DURHAM, N.H.—The UMBC volleyball dropped its regular season finale to New Hampshire, 3-0, Sunday in Durham, N.H. Even though the Retrievers fall to 13-12 on the season and 5-5 in America East play, UMBC has qualified for the America East Championship semifinals and will face the No. 1 seed Albany on Friday. The tournament will be hosted by the Great Danes, who finished 10-0 in the conference.

"While we didn't play as well as we would have liked down the stretch, our good play early in the season has paid off," head coach Ian Blanchard said. "We're excited to be in the tournament for the third time in four years."

Sophomore Alyssa Lang (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) led the Retrievers, hitting .375 with 14 kills while adding 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.

In the opening set, the Retrievers went out to an early 2-1 lead which was quickly erased by six-straight UNH points making it 7-2. The Wildcats never trailed again in the set as they expanded the lead to 18-9 on an 11-7 run and went on to capture a 10-point victory.

UNH jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the second set, but UMBC responded with six-straight points and a 9-2 run to make it 13-10. The set was knotted at 20-20, before New Hampshire closed out the set by capturing five of the final six points, which included a pair of aces by Heldman.

In the third and final set, UNH got out to a 6-1 lead and never trailed in the set. The Retrievers would narrow the margin to 11-9, but an 8-3 run secured the Wildcats lead as they went on for an eight-point set victory.