Maryland volleyball drops four-set match to Indiana, 3-1

After three closely contested sets, Maryland appeared to have run out of gas in the fourth. Indiana largely out-killed the Terps in the set, giving the Hoosiers their second win over coach Adam Hughes’ squad this season.

Maryland volleyball (16-13, 6-11 Big Ten) fell to Indiana (19-11, 9-8) in four sets, failing to build on last Sunday’s win.

Indiana jumped out to a 9-3 lead to start the final set, which included six kills and two blocks. The Terps threatened to mount another comeback, going on a 3-0 run to trim their deficit down to four. But the Hoosiers countered with a run of their own, putting the match out of reach.

“We did a pretty good job [limiting Indiana’s serves]. That was definitely something we improved upon. We were pretty committed to trying to stop [Camryn] Haworth when she was on her [serving] runs,” Hughes said. “Overall I thought we did a good job passing. We weren’t able to get them out of [their] system enough.”

In the win against Ohio State last Saturday, outside hitter Erin Morrissey led the team with 12 kills. The redshirt junior built on her impressive showing and helped the Terps to an early lead despite the end result. Morrissey finished the first set with six kills on nine attacks.

Indiana fought back despite Morrissey’s hot start, going on a 5-0 run to take an 18-13 lead and eventually win the set. The Hoosiers were able to capitalize on errant Maryland serves — including two service errors by defensive specialist Jonna Spohn.

Indiana’s attack was well-balanced in the opening set, with three players recording four or more kills. Candela Alonso-Corcelles and Avry Tatum each delivered five. Morgan Geddes ended the set with a kill, her fourth.

Similar to the first set, the Hoosiers went on a 5-0 run in the second to build a large lead. The Terps opened the set playing less disciplined, committing a plethora of attack errors and bad sets. Maryland committed six attack errors and hit .189 overall in the set.

The Terps cleaned up their errors and cut into their deficit late in the set. A 6-0 run included kills from Sydney Dowler and Sam Csire, a block from Eva Rohrbach and a service ace from Morrissey. Maryland tied the set at 24 and took the lead after a successful challenge of a kill that was originally Indiana’s point.

The Terps continued their attacking onslaught into the third set with a handful of players collecting kills. Pin hitter Samantha Schnitta was the first to get a kill in the set after delivering a pair of clutch kills to end the second. The senior recorded a double-double with a team-leading 16 kills and 10 digs.

“Going through my head at the end of the second set was just to compete for every touch ahead of me and to win,” Schnitta said. “Just compete for those touches to get the win.”

Maryland held a 10-4 lead but it quickly soured from there. Indiana stormed back behind its high-kill attack. The set was closely contested with neither side able to pull ahead until the Hoosiers’ back-to-back kills to end the set.

Indiana then dominated the fourth set in the Terps’ worst set of the match.

Maryland will look to bounce back from the loss on Saturday against No. 16 Purdue. The Terps fell to the Boilermakers in their Big Ten opener.