Maryland volleyball defeats Coastal Carolina in five-set thriller, 3-2

As the starting lineups were announced the energy in the Xfinity Center Pavilion was electric. It was finally time for a Maryland volleyball home match.

Maryland volleyball (5-2) kicked off its highly anticipated first home weekend of the season with a 3-2 victory over Coastal Carolina (3-5).

Senior outside hitter Sam Csire was all over the court, collecting 13 kills. Senior setter Sydney Dowler built on her strong start to the season, dishing out 57 assists.

The Terps quickly set the tone, starting the first set on a 4-0 run including two early kills from freshman middle blocker Eva Rohrbach. Coastal Carolina kept the set close until back-to-back errors gave Maryland an 11-6 lead, forcing the Chanticleers to call a timeout.

It was all Terps post-timeout as they collected another 4-0 run to push the lead to 17-9. They played a clean first set, collecting 15 kills and keeping their hitting percentage at a high .480. Csire led the way in kills for Maryland (five), with Rohrbach and sophomore outside hitter Laila Ivey each collecting three.

A block by Anastasia Russ and Laila Ricks ended the set for the Terps, giving them a 25-16 win.

The second set started as a much closer contest with each team collecting early kills. Each side looked sharp, limiting errors and carrying out long volleys. With the score tied at nine, Maryland went on a 4-0 run, headlined by Csire and Ricks kills and a service ace by senior Lilly Gunter.

Back-to-back Ivey kills gave Maryland its biggest lead of the set with the score sitting at 18-12. But Coastal Carolina called a timeout and came out swinging, going on a 4-0 run to cut its deficit down to two.

Maryland was on the verge of a set win after clutch kills from Csire and Rohrbach. Then Coastal Carolina found some late life with a 3-0 run to make the score 24-23.

The crowd was on their feet as Coastal Carolina served with the set on the line. After a long volley, Rohrbach collected the kill to give Maryland a narrow 25-23 set two victory.

“I didn’t think it was gonna go that route,” coach Adam Hughes said. “They were still hitting almost .400 so you knew the match wasn’t done, they were offensively doing really, really well.”

Set three started as another close one as the Chanticleers jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, building off some of the momentum from the end of set two. Coastal Carolina built its advantage up to 17-13 before Maryland called timeout, using excellent play at the net — three blocks and ten kills — to grow its lead.

Right when Maryland seemed down, back-to-back blocks and a Csire kill shifted the momentum. The crowd was back in it as “Let’s go Maryland” chants filled the gym. But Coastal Carolina was undeterred, hanging on to its lead to win the set 25-21.

Maryland’s runs were mostly killed by errors, committing five attack errors and two service errors in set three.

Three-straight Chanticleer kills gave them a 6-5 lead to start a pivotal set four. They stayed vigilant, picking up two blocks but were unable to pull away. Another Coastal block gave them their largest lead of the set at 15-11.

Right as Coastal Carolina went on a small run, a service error killed its momentum. The Terps finally built a run of their own, collecting a Rohrbach service ace and a Russ kill. Back-to-back attack errors from Coastal Carolina tied the set at 19.

Neither side was willing to let up, as points were back and forth, with the score knotted at 23. A Ricks kill put the Terps one point away from a win. But the set didn’t end that easily, as a Chanticleer block kept it alive.

The Terps got to match point again but couldn’t close it out. Back-to-back Lauren Malone kills gave Coastal Carolina the 27-25 win, forcing a fifth set.

Maryland looked sharp in the fifth set. Two kills from Ricks and another by Csire gave the Terps an early 4-1 lead. Similar to the end of set four, Coastal Carolina went on a run of their own to tie the score.

“[Csire] was one of our best options early on,” Hughes said, “I told [Csire], ‘It’s your time to go back in and go get it,’ it was a really mature moment for Sam.”

Another Csire kill helped the Terps to a 14-13 lead. With the game on the line, Dowler came up with the biggest kill of the game. Maryland finally ended it, taking set five 15-13.

“We’ve been really focused on getting back to the present, not [thinking] about the past [and] the fact we lost the last two sets,” Dowler said. “This fifth can go either way, anytime, whoever is most present and whoever wants it more is gonna win it.”

Maryland will continue the Maryland Tournament on Saturday against Princeton at 2:30.