BALTIMORE – Battling back from down the first set, the UAlbany volleyball team earned its eight straight victory and a 4-0 start in America East play with a 3-1 win at UMBC (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22) on Friday night.
UAlbany (10-6, 4-0 AE) finished with 11 total blocks and hit .170 in the match against UMBC (10-5, 1-2 AE) with three players earning double digit kills.
“We made some adjustments in the second set to counter UMBC was doing, and that seemed to do the trick,” said UAlbany head coach MJ Engstrom. “UMBC is a tough place to play; the fans are loud and their band was there. We did a good job keeping our focus, and I'm pleased that we came out with the win.”
Amanda Dolan hit .333 in the middle with 10 kills and five total blocks while Akuabata Okenwa had 10 kills and two blocks. Laini Leindecker notched a double-double, on 10 kills and 12 digs, as did Mikala McCauley, with 36 assists, 17 digs, six blocks and four kills.
For UMBC, Emily Panchak got a .324 hitting percentage with 15 kills and four digs. Abbie Mirabella finished with 14 kills and 11 digs.
An early 3-0 run, including two blocks, put UMBC up 6-3 in the first set. Nina Holmes, with a kill and block from Dolan, served UAlbany through three straight to tie the set at six. UMBC got back the lead with four straight kills to go up 11-7. Leindecker got a couple of kills as UAlbany tried to get back into the game, but UMBC built its lead to 17-12. Down 24-18, UAlbany had one final run in it with three kills and a block but came up short, falling in set one 25-22.
With UMBC up 4-1 in the second set, UAlbany won a pair of points twice to tie the game at 5-5. UMBC built its lead back to two, then UAlbany won five of the next six, including a dump kill from McCauley, for a 10-8 advantage. After UMBC tied it back up at 11-11, Emily Zimmerman served the Great Danes back in front to 14-11, capped by an ace. UAlbany held the lead during exchanges, then at 18-17, rode Gabrielle Hansen's serving, ended by a Leindecker-Dolan combo block, for a 21-17 advantage. Again UMBC got to within one, but UAlbany held its lead, using late Leindecker kills to take set two 25-22 and even the match.
UAlbany let UMBC swing away for errors early in the third set, adding four kills for an early 8-4 advantage. At 9-5, UMBC got the next four, started by three kills, to tie the game at nine. The teams exchanged points when at 14-13, Okenwa buried two kills, followed by a Chloe Evering kill and a Nicole Otero ace for a 4-0 streak and a 17-14 lead. The home team pulled back within one at 19-18. A Leindecker kill and Zimmerman's serving sparked a 5-0 run to effectively seal the set. UAlbany took the game 25-19 to lead 2-1 in the match.
The two sides kept winning pairs of points early in the fourth, with kills from Okenwa countering ones from Mirabella. UAlbany went up 11-9, then two Ashley Ramos kills tied the game again. UAlbany got back ahead on Okenwa and Evering kills. Mirabella got two more kills as UMBC won four of five for a 16-14 lead. UAlbany called a timeout and battled back with five of six for a 19-17 advantage. Two Ramos blocks tied it up against at 20-20. UAlbany's defense came through again, letting the Retrievers make three errors to build its lead to 24-21. An Evering kill ended the match as UAlbany took the set 25-22 and the match in four.
UAlbany has a quick turnaround, heading to Long Island to take on Stony Brook on Sunday, October 9th at 1 p.m.
