Attack errors doom Maryland volleyball once again in five-set loss to Ohio State

Photo courtesy of Kevin Snyder/Maryland Terrapins

During its five-game losing skid, Maryland volleyball committed over 20 attack errors per match on average.

In the Pavilion against Ohio State on Saturday, Maryland struggled once again to control their attacks, adding 25 more errors and negating a 56-kill team performance.

Maryland (8-15, 1-12 Big Ten) dropped a sixth straight match, this time losing 3-2 to Ohio State (4-17, 1-12 Big Ten) and handing the Buckeyes their first conference win. The Buckeyes recorded 56 kills, despite entering Saturday as the worst offense in the Big Ten. 

Errors, and poor offensive production as a result, have defined the Terps’ conference woes. They’ve recorded over 20 errors in three of their last five games. The offense has hit over .200 in just one of those matches –  a .210 rate in a 3-1 loss to Northwestern on Nov. 2. 

On Saturday, the story unfolded in familiar fashion. Maryland committed six errors in each of the first three sets, accruing 25 in total throughout the match and hitting at just .190.

“I’d rather get blocked than send a ball out of bounds,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “At least that means the other team has to earn it.”

The match opened with both teams trading points off clean hits, but five early kills from Malual opened a 9-7 lead for the Terps. A successful overturned challenge flipped the score in the Terps’ favor, jumpstarting a 3-1 scoring run in the middle of the set, the largest by either team.

The energy shifted when both teams mounted 5-0 scoring runs, leading to a 21-19 Terps lead. Junior middle blocker Eva Rohrbach tallied back-to-back service aces late, while sophomore middle blocker Duru Gökçen’s three-block first set capped off a 25-23 victory.

Although she slowed down in the second half of the set, Malual finished the first frame with five kills. The Buckeyes’ defense was able to contain the Terps’ kill leader, but Malual’s initial burst was enough to kickstart a set-one win. 

A 4-1 scoring run for the Buckeyes opened play in the second set, but five Ohio State errors erased the lead, while the Terps mounted a 10-3 scoring run of their own to regain momentum and an 11-7 lead. Maryland won most of the numerous long rallies throughout the match.

Long rallies could not prevent the Buckeyes’ scoring runs, though, with the squad mounting an 11-0 run to reclaim the lead, 20-12. Malual recorded three more kills in the set, but the offense wasn’t able to gain any traction, hitting at a .028 rate and committing six attack errors in the 25-16 set two loss. 

The third set opened with another 4-1 Buckeyes run, a lead that eventually built to 9-4. The Buckeyes’ offense was producing, notching five early kills and hitting at a .625 rate on no errors. Four early errors for the Terps negated a 4-0 scoring run early on, as the Buckeyes held on to a 14-10 lead.

Offensively, the Terps returned to their first-set form, notching 13 kills at a .250 rate, but six more errors continued to prove costly as sets came to a close. Malual and junior outside hitter Sydney Bryant led the team in kills with 10 and seven, respectively, but Malual’s errors earned her a .061 hitting percentage through three sets. 

Committing just three errors in the set, the Buckeyes rolled to a 25-21 win and took control of the match.

The Terps’ offense dominated the fourth set, a stark contrast to its recent trends. 

The set saw the Terps claim a 7-4 lead off a 4-0 scoring run, with Gökçen tallying two kills in the effort. Maryland’s offense continued to roll with nine kills in its first 13 points. With just two errors early on, the Terps cleaned up their attack and built a 14-8 lead.

A 7-0 scoring run broke the scoring wide open, with the Terps extending the lead to 20-9. Bryant recorded five kills in the set, spearheading the offensive explosion and hitting at a .320 clip. The offense dominated, steamrolling the Buckeyes in a 25-11 victory to send the game to a decisive fifth set. 

“The last couple weeks, you can tell [Bryant] feels a lot more confident,” Hughes said. “She takes some big swings.”

Five consecutive kills accounted for a 3-2 Buckeyes lead early in the pivotal final set, and a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage for the Buckeyes’ offense aided in extending that lead to 7-4. The defense recorded three blocks at the net, which proved to be the difference-maker in shutting down a Terps’ offense that was beginning to roll. 

On a kill from sophomore outside hitter Reese Wuebker, her 16th of the match, the Buckeyes sealed a 15-12 victory en route to their first conference win of the year.

“We both had nine kills [in the fifth set],” Hughes said. “[Ohio State] hit .400, we hit .148. They’re just a little bit cleaner.”

Michigan is next on the docket for Maryland. The Wolverines beat Rutgers 3-2 on Friday and boast a top-four offense in the conference. Clean hitting will be paramount for the Terps on Sunday if they want to snag their second conference win.