By Nick Bucher
Contributing Writer
With the UMBC women’s volleyball conference season now in full swing, it is time to look to the future of this season and how it will affect the prospects of the Retrievers advancing to the postseason. Specifically, whether or not the Retrievers will even be able to compete in the 2014-2015 America East Volleyball Championship. The Retrievers split their two weekend games, losing to Binghamton University but defeating the University of Albany. The top four teams in the conference qualify for the semi-finals, and from there the two winners compete for the championship.
The Retrievers are currently out of the playoff picture, as they are the fifth in the conference. The top four seeds in order are, the University of New Hampshire, the University at Albany, Binghamton University, and Stony Brook University. The Retrievers are presently 3-3 in America East play, which is the same record as Stony Brook, the current four seed. Stony Brook however, holds the spot based upon tiebreakers, as they are 12-10 overall, while UMBC is 9-10.
A year ago the Retrievers finished second in the conference with a record in the America East play of 9-5, and defeated Albany in the semi-finals before ultimately falling to New Hampshire in the finals.
The Retrievers have plenty of time to make a playoff push, and that starts this weekend as they head to New Hampshire to play the Wildcats, one of the teams they are chasing. Winning that match will keep the Retrievers in control of their own destiny, but should they lose, it will be an uphill climb the rest of the way.
