Maryland volleyball swept by No. 9 Wisconsin’s strong offense

Photo courtesy of Dylan Davies/Maryland Athletics

Coach Adam Hughes highlighted No. 9 Wisconsin’s (10-4, 4-1 Big Ten) physicality and home-court advantage as two of the toughest challenges Maryland would face. A decisive loss proved him right.

The Terps were swept by the Badgers and struggled in every facet of the game as the closest sets were still decided by 10 points.

“This is what Big Ten life can look like sometimes,” Hughes said. “Wisconsin did this to Washington right before us whose a top-25 team … we knew the challenge would be tall.”

To start the match, Wisconsin’s star outside hitter Sarah Franklin did not play like herself in the first set, committing an uncharacteristic three errors in five attempts, hitting -.400.

However, Anna Smrek was able to pick up the slack for the Badgers. The 6-foot-9 inch outside hitter recorded four forceful kills, launching bullets at the Terps en route to hitting .571 in the opening set. 

The Terps’ hitting was unable to keep up, though, hitting only .107. 6-foot-7 Carter Booth and 6-foot-4 Franklin both tallied a block and a half, and Samantha Schnitta was rejected thrice at the net.

Maryland kept the Badgers within reach for most of the match, but Wisconsin’s physicality was the deciding factor. The Terps let the match slip away in the latter half, dropping the game 15-25.

The Badgers’ defense continued its dominance at the net in the second set, surpassing double-digit blocks while Maryland remained at zero.

Franklin returned to form with five kills in the set and improved her hitting percentage above .200.

The Terps’ offense struggled, committing more errors than kills for a -.152 hitting percentage. Maryland simply could not get anything going and failed to string together any runs consistently.

The Badgers dominated in the front row, hitting a solid .308, and recording a staggering nine blocks to Maryland’s zero for the set.

The final two points of the second game encapsulated the match as a whole.

Julia Orzol’s serve hit the top of the net and dropped slowly to give the Badgers set point and electrify the Wisconsin Field House crowd of over 7,000.

A point later, Sam Csire’s attack was blocked by Charlie Fuerbringer and CC Crawford to seal the set. Crawford was perhaps Wisconsin’s best player on both sides of the ball, recording nine blocks and eight kills while hitting .438.

Maryland showed a bit more life in the third set, matching Wisconsin in kills, but the Badgers found a new offensive gear in the set.

The Terps still couldn’t escape the unforced errors and hit below .200 for the third consecutive set, while Wisconsin played clean, hitting .400.

The Badgers even far outmatched the Terps on the service line, where Maryland has thrived and been among the best in the Big Ten. Maryland ranks first in the conference in aces per set (2.13) by a wide margin, yet struggles in reception, ranking last in receive percentage (90.3%).

“I think it’s a little bit tougher to serve when you’re on the road, not as comfortable,” Hughes said.

In the third set, Wisconsin had six aces to only one error, while Maryland had three service errors to one ace.

Schnitta leads Division I in aces per set (.91) and spearheads the Terps’ formidable attack from the end line, yet was held to zero aces and three errors.

“Schnitta couldn’t find a good rhythm and that’s somebody who had been causing a lot of damage for us,” Hughes said.

Virtually every stat was in Wisconsin’s favor by a wide margin tonight. With the opponents Maryland has coming up, they cannot allow allow total domination like this again.