UMBC Volleyball Outlasts West Virginia in Five-Set Thriller
UMBC volleyball improved to 2-0 on the young season Sunday afternoon with a dramatic 3-2 victory over West Virginia at the Country Roads Challenge in Morgantown.
The Retrievers won the opening two sets, 25-23 and 25-13, before West Virginia stormed back with 25-19 and 25-18 victories to force a decisive fifth set. UMBC responded under pressure and pulled out a 15-13 win in the final frame to complete the upset over the Big 12 opponent.
The victory also snapped West Virginia’s 16-match nonconference winning streak.
UMBC Starts Fast
UMBC carried momentum from its season-opening sweep over UTRGV into Sunday’s match.
The Retrievers edged West Virginia 25-23 in a competitive opening set before completely controlling the second. UMBC won that frame 25-13 while holding the Mountaineers to a negative-.056 hitting percentage.
At that point, UMBC appeared to be on its way to another convincing victory.
The Retrievers built a 15-7 lead in the third set, putting themselves within 10 points of completing another sweep.
West Virginia had other plans.
The Mountaineers rallied to take the third set 25-19 and then controlled the fourth, winning 25-18 to even the match at two sets apiece.
Fifth Set Turns Into a Fight
The decisive set went back and forth almost immediately.
UMBC moved ahead 5-4 when Isabel Ostvig set up Alissa Grant for a kill, but West Virginia answered with three consecutive points to grab a 7-5 advantage.
The Retrievers did not panic.
UMBC responded with four straight points, including an Ostvig service ace and a combined block by Grace Larrivee and Hannah Dobbs, to regain a 9-7 lead.
West Virginia eventually tied the set at 10-10.
Larrivee answered with a kill, and Claudia Llamas and Grant combined for another block to help UMBC move ahead 12-10. Jalynn Brown followed with her 17th kill of the match to make it 13-11.
Once again, West Virginia fought back and tied the score at 13.
UMBC finally closed the door.
A West Virginia attack error gave the Retrievers match point, and a Mountaineer violation on Dasia Johnson’s serve finished the 15-13 victory.
Brown Leads Balanced Attack
Brown delivered the best offensive performance of her young season.
After recording seven kills in UMBC’s season-opening sweep of UTRGV, Brown exploded for 17 kills against West Virginia while hitting .282.
Dobbs added 12 kills and 11 digs for her first double-double of the season.
Llamas finished with nine kills, while Grant contributed seven kills and had a major impact defensively at the net.
Ostvig continued to run the offense efficiently, finishing with 39 assists, four kills, eight digs and contributions on eight blocks.
UMBC Wins the Battle at the Net
One of the biggest differences in the match came from UMBC’s blocking.
The Retrievers finished with 16 team blocks compared with 14 for West Virginia.
Grant was involved in 10 of them, recording one solo block and nine block assists. Ostvig contributed to eight blocks, while Dobbs was involved in three.
UMBC also finished with 10 service aces.
Johnson led the way with four, while Dobbs, Ostvig and Molly Penn each added two.
Reigning America East Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Howard anchored the back row with 20 digs and six assists.
Numbers Show How Tight It Was
The final statistics reflected how evenly matched the two teams were.
West Virginia finished with a slight 56-54 advantage in kills and a 61-59 edge in digs. UMBC countered with advantages in service aces, 10-8, and blocks, 16-14.
The Retrievers also outhit West Virginia .197 to .179.
UMBC finished with 54 kills, 23 attack errors and 157 total attempts.
West Virginia recorded 56 kills but committed 28 attack errors on 156 swings.
That difference in mistakes became particularly important in the fifth set, when UMBC held West Virginia to a .053 hitting percentage.
MSB Take
This might be more valuable for UMBC than another straight-set victory would have been.
The Retrievers had every reason to lose momentum after West Virginia erased a 2-0 deficit and forced a fifth set. UMBC had also led the third set 15-7 before the match completely swung toward the Mountaineers.
Instead of folding, UMBC regrouped.
That matters.
Brown stepping up with 17 kills gives the Retrievers another legitimate offensive weapon alongside Dobbs, and Grant’s presence at the net continues to look like a major addition after missing last season.
The 16 blocks might be the most encouraging number of all. UMBC already showed in the opener that it can overwhelm opponents offensively. Against West Virginia, the Retrievers proved they can win a physical, ugly match when everything does not go according to plan.
Beating a Big 12 opponent on its home court is significant. Ending West Virginia’s 16-match nonconference winning streak makes it even better.
UMBC is only two matches into the season, but a sweep followed by a five-set road win over West Virginia is about as strong of an opening weekend as the Retrievers could have hoped for.
UMBC will next travel to Buffalo for a Sept. 4 matchup with the Bulls.
