Maryland falls to Illinois in five sets, 3-2

Photo by Gabriella Valencia/Maryland Terrapin. Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.

The band was in Stephen M. Schanwald Pavilion for Maryland vs. Illinois, hoping to give the Terps a much-needed morale boost after a 0-2 road trip. However, that didn’t happen, as Maryland ultimately lost 2-3. 

Maryland moves to 2-7 in Big Ten play this season. 

“I thought Illinois just made some better defensive plays in some key situations,” said head coach Adam Hughes. “I thought Illinois made some scrap plays. You know, I don’t want to say that there were a few lucky bounces. Just a couple of things didn’t go our way.”

Service errors from both teams decided the first set, with the final point coming off a service ace that allowed the Terps to win 25-22. Maryland had five service errors compared to Illinois two. 

Senior Sydney Bryant was the star of the set, contributing six kills and hitting .667 percent. 

The start to the second set was sloppy, with Illinois committing four service errors and three attacking errors by the technical timeout and somehow leading 14-15.

 Both teams were hitting even at .250 at the break. Maryland, however, went on a 6-1 run to take the lead back, making it 17-15. The Terps would lose 21-25 off a service ace from freshman Ava Brown. 

Maryland woke up to start the third set, going on a 3-0 scoring run. Bryant lays down a massive kill to keep the Terps up 12-10. However, Illinois pulled away with a 4-0 run to take the lead at the break. 

From the break on, the game stayed within one point or tied at all times. Brass would get a kill to tie it back up at 23-23. Illinois would proceed to go up. 

Senior Eva Rohrbach would respond by getting two kills, which would lead to the Terps winning the exhilarating set 26-24. 

The fourth set, however, went in favor of Illinois due to Maryland having seven attacking errors. The Terps were hitting .114 percent throughout the set compared to Illinois .306 percent. 

Illinois would keep the momentum from the fourth set and take it into the tiebreaker set. Taking the win 8-15. Maryland would end up playing their worst set last. 

 “Show the youngsters that this is a long, long marathon, and they need to come back and compete like crazy,” said Hughes about how to regroup.

Michigan State comes to town to play the Terps at noon on Oct. 25 in the Stephen M. Schanwald Pavilion.