Junior Alicia Nelson (Apple Valley, Minn.) led the Seawolves (11-15, 6-4 AE) with 19 kills while Gibbs recorded a game-high 29 digs including the 1,000th of her career. Headen had 10 kills to go along with six service aces for the Seawolves, who won their third straight match.
UMBC (10-15, 6-4 AE) jumped to a 10-6 lead in the fifth set but the Seawolves rallied to within 11-9 on a kill from sophomore Greta Strenger (Woodbury, Minn.). UMBC responded by scoring the next two points to take the 13-9 lead.
Gibbs and freshman Evann Slaughter (Clinton, Md.) answered with back-to-back kills though before an attack error from Iman Kennedy forced a UMBC timeout. Freshman Kaitlin Costello (Webster, N.Y.) followed with a kill before another kill from Slaughter gave Stony Brook a 14-13 advantage.
UMBC then called another timeout but a block solo from Slaughter on the next point ended the match. Slaughter finished the match with 12 kills and six blocks.
The Retrievers got off a quick start, grabbing a 14-8 lead in the opening set. The Seawolves closed within 16-15 but that it as close as they would get as UMBC ended the set on a 6-0 run to take a 1-0 lead. But the Seawolves rebounded in the second set, jumping to a 19-9 lead on its way to an eight-point set two victory. Nelson had five kills in the set for SBU, which hit .394.
UMBC took an early four-point lead in the third set before the Seawolves went on a 15-7 run to take a 19-15 lead. But the Retrievers ended the set on a 10-1 run to take a 2-1 lead.
Set four was close all the way and featured nine ties and five lead changes. The Retrievers looked to be on their way to victory as they opened up their largest lead of the set, 20-16, on a Stony Brook attack error.
Stony Brook closed within 21-20 on a Costello kill before tying the match at 22 on Nelson kill. Nelson followed with another kill to give SBU the lead before a UMBC attack error got the Seawolves within a point of leveling the match at two.
But UMBC rallied, tying it at 24 on an SBU attack error. But, with the score tied at 25, Stony Brook got a kill and a block solo from Slaughter to send it to the fifth set. Nelson had eight kills in fourth set/
The Seawolves now close the regular season with two road matches, beginning with a contest against Binghamton on Friday at 7 p.m.
