Maryland volleyball dominates Howard in 3-0 sweep

By: Jack Wynn

Maryland volleyball (7-2) won its third consecutive match of the weekend on Sunday, sweeping Howard (3-6), 3-0.

The Terps came into the contest following a dominating performance against Princeton on Saturday and looked to continue their winning streak into their weekend finale. Howard went into the match on a losing-streak, having lost badly to UMBC and Virginia the two days prior.

A combination of kills from Rya McKinnon and Maryland attack errors made the first set a battle early on. But after going down by three the Terps’ offense started to find their rhythm. A kill by Anastasia Russ sparked a 9-2 run that featured a pair of Eva Rohrbach kills.

Due to a combined ten attack and service errors, Howard was unable to get into a groove of its own. The Terps trounced the Bison 25-17 in the first set.

Maryland’s success continued early into the second set as two Ellie Watson kills led the Terps to jump out to an early 8-4 lead. Howard responded strongly, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a small lead midway through the set thanks to three-straight kills by McKinnon. 

But the Bison could not avoid making the same mistakes they made in the first set, as nine combined attack and service errors limited their efficiency. 

Sydney Dowler helped the Terps rally back as she assisted on six of Maryland’s next ten scores to retake the lead. The second set ended with an emphatic kill by star Sam Csire, who had been making plays all over the court leading up to that point.

The third set was much more competitive than the first two as neither side was able to build a lead larger than two points until late in the set when a Laila Ricks kill sparked a 4-0 run and a lead Maryland never relinquished.

Maryland closed the set by scoring six-straight points on the back of Dowler and walked away with a 25-15 victory. 

It was a nonstop series of mistakes that kept Howard out of the game as it tallied a combined 25 attack and service errors during the three-set match. Maryland, meanwhile, played one of its cleaner games of the season as it continued to work well as a unit and executed its attacks. 

The Terps will look to extend their winning streak against Le Moyne next Friday.