Three Great Danes Earn 12+ Kills as UAlbany Volleyball Outlasts UMBC for Five-Set Road Victory
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BALTIMORE – In a wild match at the RAC Arena, the UAlbany volleyball team held off UMBC's fifth set comeback attempt to pull out the road victory (21-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-16, 15-12) and improve to 3-1 in America East play.
UAlbany (8-8, 3-1 AE) lost a 7-0 lead in the fifth set to UMBC (7-10, 1-2 AE) but recovered to take the advantage and finish the final game on a 3-0 run for the team's second conference road victory in as many chances.
"It's always tough to come on to a home court and play well the day you traveled; in the second set, the matchups on the front line were a little different, and we seemed to settle down and serve more aggressively," said UAlbany coach MJ Engstrom. "I thought our middles did a great job stabilizing the defense. We just had to grind this one out; our freshmen have to learn in "on the job training mode," so I'm proud that they helped so much pulling this one off."
Amanda Dolan hit a team best .367 with a season-high 12 kills, adding eight kills. Laini Leindecker earned a double-double off 14 kills, 11 digs, three aces and four blocks, surpassing the 200 kill mark on the season, while Shannon Hurley finished with 12 kills and four blocks.
Three UMBC players picked up a double-double: Makenzie Morgan tallied 12 kills and 10 digs, Maddie Schneider concluded with 10 kills and 19 digs and setter Krytsia Negron had 29 assists and 11 digs.
In set one, an early 3-0 run, capped by a Leindecker ace, put UAlbany up 3-1. UMBC tied it up as the sides proceeded to go back and forth. At 9-9, UMBC took the next three, finished by kills from Maddie Schneider and Sherelle Walker. Tatum Jungsten took charge with a kill then went back to serve, adding an ace as UAlbany tied the set at 12-12. After a UMBC point, UAlbany took four of the next five, including three kills, to lead 16-14. Again UMBC tied it, and again, UAlbany went back ahead by two on a Leindecker kill and a Jungsten block. At 20-18, a Walker kill and three-straight UMBC blocks put the home team up 22-20 on the 4-0 run. UAlbany could not recover as UMBC got the last three to take set one 25-21.
At 1-1 in the second set, Gabrielle Hansen served UAlbany through a 4-0 run, finished by two UAlbany blocks, for an early 5-1 lead. At 6-3, two kills a piece from Leindecker and Jungsten helped UAlbany extend the lead to 10-4, later adding a 3-0 run with two kills to make it 13-5. At 14-6, Krystal Williams added a pair of points as UMBC got five in a row. UAlbany held off its opponent and put three points back on the board capped by a Nicole Otero ace. At 18-13, UAlbany took command on Paula Pinto's serving, winning six-consecutive points. The Great Danes took set two 25-14 to even the match.
Dolan led UAlbany on a 4-0 charge to begin the third set with a kill and two blocks. UMBC responded with the next six for a 6-4 score, later leading 9-6 following a Claudia Lopez ace. Kills from Hurley and Chloe Lamb helped UAlbany pull within one at 11-10. UMBC rebuilt the lead to five off a couple of kills and aces to lead 16-11, leading UAlbany to call a timeout. The Great Danes looked to come back, getting four of five, including two aces, to pull within 19-17. UMBC took two back, then UAlbany notched three-straight kills, capped by a pair from Hurley, to get within one at 21-20. Down 23-20, UAlbany tied the set with three in a row, ended by a Hansen ace, to tie the set 23-23. But UMBC put down the next two kills for the 25-23 set three win to make it 2-1 in the match.
Hansen had another strong serving run in the beginning of the fourth set as UAlbany took five-consecutive for a 5-1 lead, later going up 7-3. A Maddie Schneider kill started a 3-0 run for UMBC, to which UAlbany countered a couple of 4-0 runs off Leindecker's and Jungsten's serving to go up 15-7. UMBC put together one last 3-0 run, as did UAlbany as the Great Danes kept a strong lead. A trio of late Leindecker kills helped seal the set as UAlbany won game four 25-16 to force a tiebreaker.
UAlbany put together another early run, using a Mikala McCauley ace, three-straight points from Hurley and a back row kill from McCauley to make it 7-0 to start. UMBC got McCauley off the serve and went on its own surge, taking nine of the next 10, including three blocks, to go up 9-8. UAlbany went back up after two UMBC errors for a 10-9 score. Back and forth the teams went with Leindecker and Williams trading kills. At 12-12 against the serve, UAlbany called a timeout. Hurley came out of the break with a kill, then a UMBC attack error made it match point. Liz Pronove's attack missed the mark as UAlbany finished the fifth set on a 3-0 run to take the game 15-12 and win the match.
UAlbany next heads to Long Island for a Sunday, October 11th matchup with Stony Brook at 1 p.m.
