Maryland volleyball falls 3-1 against Washington

Photo courtesy of Ashley Ray/Maryland Terrapins

For the first time in weeks, Maryland (10-11, 1-9 Big Ten) pushed a match beyond three sets and matched pace with an elite Big Ten team in Washington (16-4, 6-4 Big Ten). But scoring runs from Washington’s dynamic attack and failure to close out sets cost the Terps the match.

Maryland dropped its sixth straight match but picked up its first set win since Oct. 5 in a 3-1 loss to Washington.

The first game set the tone for a match featuring offensive fireworks from both teams. 

The Terps built an early six-point lead, but an eight-point run, the first of many scoring outbursts from the Huskies, left Maryland trailing by two.

Maryland responded with a five-point streak, including kills from Samantha Schnitta, Eva Rohrbach and Sydney Bryant, who all had productive outings in a balanced offensive showing from the Terps.

Three straight kills for Washington knotted the match at 20, but Maryland was able to pull away and claim the set 25-23. Schnitta fired a rocket for her fifth kill to break the Terps’ five-game streak of being swept.

“I thought we did a good job in game one of standing tall,” coach Adam Hughes said. “Had a chance there to maybe panic a little bit, didn’t, and found a way to execute.”

Both offenses applied constant pressure, with each team hitting over .300 and combining for only four blocks.

While Maryland’s attack continued to thrive in the second set, Washington’s offense was nearly flawless.

The Huskies’ second eight-point run of the match buried the Terps early, but they were able to narrow the gap to within three.

Washington benefitted from an occasional unforced error from Maryland, but the Huskies protected their lead largely because they made virtually no mistakes.

The Huskies hit a ridiculous .621, committed no attack errors and only one service error.

The Washington attack saw three players reach at least 12 kills for the match.

Most impressively, the Huskies did this without two of their top contributors, outside hitters Emoni Bush and Audra Wilmes. 

Bush ranks third on the team in kills per set (2.53) and Wilmes places right behind her in fourth (2.3). 

Fellow outside hitters Kiune Fletcher and Sophia Tulino were called upon to fill in for the injured players, and they did not back down from the challenge.

Fletcher had the third-most kills in the match for the Huskies with 12 and Tulino, who had previously only played three sets all season, notched nine kills and zero attack errors, the only player on Washington to record a kill without an error.

This offensive prowess was on display in a dominant 25-17 set two win for Washington.

To kick off the third set, it looked like the Terps were letting the match slip away from them.

Washington raced out to a 5-0 lead, prompting a timeout from Hughes to stop the bleeding.

The Terps eventually erased the lead when they tied the game at 13. From that point forward, the two teams were locked in a gritty defensive affair, which could not have been more different from the constant offense in the first two sets.

Both teams hit below .250 in a sloppy set that was pushed to seven set points and included a combined ten service errors.

The Huskies proved to be the better late set performers, or “red zone” team, as Hughes likes to call it, winning the thriller of a set 31-29.

“We had a chance there in game three to maybe flip the script 2-1,” Hughes said. “Both teams were making some plays, [Washington] is 16-4 for a reason.”

The fourth and final set saw much of the same volleyball, except Maryland’s offense ground to a halt while Washington’s attack merely slowed.

The Terps hit .059, about half of their hitting percentage in an already sluggish third set, and the Huskies hit .229, about the same as in set three.

Washington built a small lead early in the fourth set and, for a team as talented as they are, that was all they needed to finish Maryland off.

The Terps could never string together a run as impactful as the two eight-point explosions the Huskies had, leaving Maryland just one step behind for most of the fourth set.

Washington finally closed out the set and the match with a 25-19 set four victory.

Maryland returns to College Park for some much-needed rest before taking on No. 10 Purdue on Friday.