Volleyball Begins 2024 Campaign at Purdue - University of Maryland, Baltimore County (2024)

The four-time defending America East Champion UMBC Volleyball team will begin the 2024 season this weekend with a grueling three game tournament at Purdue.

The Retrievers will open up on Friday afternoon against Big West contender UC Davis, before facing the No.8 ranked hosts on Saturday night, and then closing the weekend on Sunday against a Kansas State squad that is receiving Top 25 votes.

All games are airing on Big Ten Plus and live stats are available for all matches on UMBCRetrievers.com.

About the Opponents:

UC Davis

• This will be the first time the Retrievers face the Aggies
• UC Davis ended the 2023 season losing in the first round of the Big West Tournament against Cal Poly
• UC Davis returns seven starters, led by Big West Preseason Coaches' Team honoree senior Olivia Utterback.
• The Aggies head coach Dan Conners enters his 11th-year with a team filled with experience
• The Aggies added two freshmen to their experienced roster

No. 8 Purdue

• Purdue enters the 2024 season ranked #8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) preseason poll.
• This will be the first time the Retrievers face the Boilermakers
• Purdue returns nearly its entire lineup for the 2024 season
• Purdue is led by three All-Americans, junior Evas Hudson (Second Team All-America), sophomore Chloe Chicoine (Third Team All-America), and senior Raven Colvin (Honorable Mention).
• The Boilermakers finished third in the Big Ten standings and number 13 in the AVCA final poll last season.

(RV) Kansas State

• This will be the first time the Retrievers face the Wildcats
• Kansas State is still receiving votes for the preseason poll ranking
• The Wildcats fell to #22 Houston in the regular season finale last season
• Kansas State brings a complete team to the 2024 season with graduate student Aliyah Carter and senior Izzi Szulczewski being voted to the All-Big 12 Preseason Team.
• Carter is a three-time First Team All-Big 12 selection that is second in school history with 1,384 kills during the rally-scoring era, which stands sixth all-time.

UMBC was voted as the preseason favorite in a poll voted on by conference coaches, the America East announced on August 12.

In addition, seniorMia Bilusicand graduate studentAysia Millerwere voted to the inaugural Preseason All-Conference Team.

Bilusic is a three-time first team All-Conference selection and the 2021 Rookie of the Year, while Miller is a three-time second team All-Conference selection at multiple positions and was the Spring 2021 Setter of the Year and 2022 Defensive Specialist of the Year.

The Retrievers added graduate transfers Abby Erickson andRamonni Cook to the roster for the season

"We felt really confident in the group that we are returning for the upcoming season, " said Crider. "Ultimately, we felt the bar was pretty high to add additional people to our roster, so we were pretty picky in our approach the transfer portal. To find not one, but two really solid additions speaks to the workJaime Kosiorekdid over this past semester. We anticipate both Abby and Ramonni to have big impacts on our level of play this season, and I couldn't be more thrilled to get to share this year with them both."

Abby Erickson

Erickson is a 6-1 middle blocker who spent the previous five years at Toledo. She started all 31 matches for the Rockets last season. She was the team leaderin blocks last season with 102. Erickson was third on the team in kills (227) and hit .278 on the season. The Powell, Ohip nativeis a three-time Academic All-MAC selection after graduating with a 3.79 GPA in Chemical Engineering.

Coach Crider on Abby:"Abby provides us the only thing we felt was missing from our roster the past few years: the ability to kill the slide. Combine that with her blocking physicality and her unique depth of experience, and it's pretty easy to see how she fits here. But most impressive is Abby's demeanor. This is the type of person you want your kids to be like and you want to have in your circle. To share a year of her life is a gift for which we are extremely grateful."

Ramonni Cook

Cook is a 6-1 opposite who spent the previous four years at Pacific. She played in all 29 matches for the Tigers, starting 13. Her 47 blocks were third best on the team, and her 164 kills were fifth best on the high-powered Pacific offense. She was a West Coast Conference Honorable Mention in 2021, as well.

Coach Crider on Ramonni:"Ramonni is an opposite that has a very good arm and is another level of physical athlete that our league doesn't see often. She is a top level jumper with elite size and an extremely powerful arm. She'll be in the mix on the pins for us, and we anticipate her scoring lots of points and giving opposing attackers fits as a blocker. Her easy-going nature will make any transition easier for both her and the program."

UMBC also welcomes freshmen Hannah Dobbs, Laura Fuehrer, Isabel Ostvig and Claudia Llamas.

"The foundation of everything in any program is talent acquisition," said Crider. "Recruiting influences everything we do, both positively and negatively. It goes without saying that we want to get it as right as possible, as often as possible. I can't predict the future, but I'm pretty confident we got it right with this class. The best part of the job is choosing who you spend your days with and I'm thrilled to spend lots of days with these four over the next couple of years."

Both Dobbs and Ostvigmatriculated at UMBC this past January. Ostvigcompeted this past winter and spring as a member of the UMBC Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field teams as well.

Name:Hannah Dobbs
Position: OH/RS
Height: 6'
Hometown: Toronto, Ohio
Club: Pittsburgh Elite

Coach Crider on Hannah:"Hannah was one of our very first targets overall since arriving at UMBC. She was our first phone call on June 15 of last year, and the interest never wavered in either direction. She has a chance to play an early role with her ability to score. She has lots of work to do to round out her game, but we're thrilled to get going with her when she enrolls early this upcoming January."

Name:Laura Fuehrer
Position: MB
Height: 6'1
Hometown: Bay Village, OH
Club: Academy Volleyball Cleveland

Coach Crider on Laura:"Laura will pretty clearly help us in multiple ways. First, she's a very spring athlete playing in the most competitive club environments in the country each weekend. She'll be well trained and have experienced more high level training and competition than a typical freshman. Second, her personality is electric. She's authentic and magnetic - certainly one of the most likable people I've had the pleasure of recruiting."

Name:Claudia Llamas
Position: OH
Height: 6'2
Hometown: Barcelona, Spain
Club: CV Sant Cugat ll

Coach Crider on Claudia:"Claudia upgrades us with some desperately needed size on the pins. If you look at the America East, teams are getting bigger and longer, and it's changing the ways those teams can defend. In this case, you can combat size with size and Claudia will help us do exactly that. She has extremely high level experience training with the Spanish national team and will fit right into a culture that has celebrated international players forever."

Name:Izzy Ostvig
Position: Setter
Height: 6'
Hometown: Fredericksburg, VA
Club: Virginia Juniors

Coach Crider on Isabel:"Izzy has the chance to become a star, plain and simple. In part, her physical abilities speak for themselves: she'll likely be one of the very best female athletes in the entire athletic department, competing for our track program here at UMBC as well. But beyond that, she has some unique personality traits that should allow her to become an elite leader and competitor."