UMBC women’s volleyball hosted University of Massachusetts Lowell on Sunday, Nov. 1 in the RAC. The Retrievers entered their November campaign on the heel of a two-game winning streak and they confidently extended it to three against the River Hawks.
The 3-0 sweep in sets over Lowell brought the Retrievers back to .500 on the season, and elevated their conference record to 5-3, earning their spot in the America East conference tournament.
The Retrievers snatched the first set away from the River Hawks, taking an early 6-0 lead and they never looked like they intended to give it back. UMBC ended up winning the set 25-10, and took advantage of an assortment of Lowell errors to further power the charge.
The second set would not be won by UMBC as they fell into an early 1-5 hole against the River Hawks, who showed far greater focus than in the first set. The early Massachusetts run prompted a UMBC timeout that helped the Retrievers regain footing before eventually tying the set at eight.
There rest of the set saw the River Hawks being motivated by excellent service by way of Erica Cappellino, while the Retrievers maintained pressure through the set due to great team net play. Ultimately, the set ended up tied at 24, forcing an extra point situation. UMBC managed to sneak away with 25 and then ravaged the set point at 26-24 with Zoya Trendafilova’s sixth kill of the game.
The third and final set was a continuation of Retriever pressure, taking an early 8-2 lead, but the River Hawks constantly kept it within striking distance, keeping the lead from being more than just security for the Retrievers. However, Lowell was unable to dig in deep enough to mount a comeback in the ultimate set and eventually were dismissed 25-20 by Trendafilova’s ninth kill of the game.
Though the Retrievers have secured their place in the conference tournament, they still have four conference games to go before their regular season ends.
The women’s volleyball team is currently on a three game winning streak and would certainly like to channel that energy into their game at Binghamton on Friday, Nov. 6 and hopefully ride that momentum all the way into the postseason where they will be competing in the America East championship.