WASHINGTON - Howard volleyball (12-13, MEAC 8-3) finds themselves in a late season slump with Wednesday night's 3-0 nonconference loss (25-22, 25-20, 25-16) to UMBC (12-7, America East 5-2).

The visitors jumped out to a 10-4 lead, aided by five Bison miscues. Despite falling behind, Howard cut the deficit to three with consecutive kills from senior Jennifer Bolden (Los Angeles, Calif.) to make it 14-11. HU would gained a 17-15 lead from an uninterrupted six-point charge.

UMBC would work their way back leveling the board 19-19 off an attack error before back-to-back slip ups would push the Retrievers to the first set point of the night. 

Junior Dami Awojobi (Hempstead, NY) would hold the Maryland based rival in place, but a service error would close the set 25-22 UMBC.

UMBC once again jumped ahead early 9-4. The Bison worked their way back within one with a four point charge spearheaded by the Woodard Sisters and conference heavyweight Rya McKinnon (Hoover, Ala.), 9-8.

The Retrievers widened the gap with the help of four consecutive errors, 13-8. UMBC maintained the lead throughout the match with the Bison threatening to turn the upper hand with a five-point run, 20-16.With the Retrievers at their second set-point of the night, four straight points from the Bison would keep the opponent at a standstill, 24-20. The charge fell short as UMBC claimed their second set off an attack error, 25-20.

The Retrievers opened the scoring for the second time of the night - securing an 8-4 lead, but the Bison kept pace battling back with a ace-kill combo from Cimone Woodard (Missouri City, Texas) to help push the Bison within one, 8-7.

A 4-0 run from the Retrieves would extend the lead 12-7, but straight errors would pull the Bison within two, 16-14. UMBC would capitalize off of another set of errors in addition to three kills producing an 8-1 run four set match. UMBC kept the set alive handing the Bison their final point on an attack error when a Retriever sent a hit out of bounds, 24-16. UMBC would claim the sweep once the rally dropped in Bison territory, 25-16.

Bolden led the Bison offense in hitting percentage registering .500 off of a team-high 10 kills. Sophomore Leah Reeves (Allen, Texas) made her mark on the night aiding in 11 assists while fellow second-year Claire Simpson (Plainfield, Ill.) posted a game-high 16 digs

Howard returns to conference play on Friday, November 3^rd when they host Morgan State at 6 PM.