Maryland volleyball cruises past Utah Valley with 3-1 victory

Maryland volleyball (4-1) faced Utah Valley (1-4) in its second game of the Kristen Dickmann Invitational, looking to build on its two-game win streak.

Utah Valley entered the day in the midst of a three-game losing streak. But after losing Friday night to Navy and Saturday morning to Old Dominion, the Wildcats came out hot. 

Then, the Terps looked like a different team from the beginning to end of the match. From sloppy play to dominating, Maryland secured the 3-1 victory.

“I felt like we were hoping they were gonna be tired,” coach Adam Hughes said. “I wanted to start a little bit faster… Once we didn’t do that we knew it was time to lock in and get right.”

The beginning of set one was a back-and-forth battle to start until Utah Valley strung together a couple of runs. Two straight attack errors from Maryland made it a 17-12 score, forcing the Terps to call timeout.

Maryland looked like a different group coming out of the gates compared to its performance on Friday. The Terps committed nine attack errors and hit .121 in the first set.

Late-set kills from seniors Sam Csire and Samantha Schnitta gave Maryland hope, but it was not enough. Utah Valley ultimately won the set 25-20 after a kill from senior outside hitter Tori Ellis.

The second set started as a close contest, with the two sides knotted at 11. Then both sides went on runs.

Another set of back-to-back Csire and Schnitta kills helped propel Maryland on a 4-0 run. Headed into the media timeout, the score stood at 15-11.

Utah Valley came out of the timeout with a run of its own. The Wolverines stole the lead after collecting three kills and a service ace.

The lead swung back in Maryland’s direction after a clutch 6-0 run from the Terps. Csire ended Utah Valley’s comeback hopes in the second with a set-ending kill and a score of 25-22.

Maryland cut down its errors in the second set, committing just five attack errors. The presence up front was also sounder, picking up three blocks compared to just one in the first set.

The third set was all the Terps, where they looked like a completely different group. The set started with five-straight kills: Two from Csire, two from senior setter Sydney Dowler and one from freshman middle blocker Eva Rohrbach.

Maryland dominated the third set, outscoring Utah Valley in kills (13-5), aces (7-1), blocks (3-0) and hitting percentage (.765-.100). Most notably, the Terps committed zero errors.

Set four proved to be a much closer contest. Maryland collected kills early on, starting with senior middle blocker Anastasia Russ. But Utah Valley stayed within striking distance, that was until a Laila Ivey kill and Utah Valley service error gave Maryland a 20-17 advantage. Then two kills from the Wolverines started a 3-0 run that erased the Terps’ lead.

“[Ivey] didn’t start off great, maybe not as confident as she wanted to be,” Hughes said. “But man, she took some big time swings in the fourth that really helped us get some energy and get some fire.”

Knotted up at 23 with a chance to close out the game, neither side was able to pull away. Then a clutch Ivey kill put the Terps up 26-25, and a Csire service ace put the finishing touch on the set to give Maryland the victory.

“I thought they were incredibly resilient,” Hughes said. “It was back-and-forth but we were still staying aggressive [and] playing with confidence. Even down one, found a way to make a play.”

The Terps will aim to finish the weekend undefeated when they host Navy at 2 p.m on Sunday.