Maryland volleyball suffers second straight sweep against No. 16 Minnesota

Photo courtesy of Dylan Davies/Maryland Athletics

Maryland volleyball (10-7, 1-5 Big Ten) seemed overwhelmed and outmatched in Madison against No. 9 Wisconsin, faltering in a convincing loss. Despite their best efforts, the Terps looked largely the same today.

The Terps dropped their fifth conference match of the season in a sweep at the hands of No. 14 Minnesota (11-5, 4-2 Big Ten).

Set one was a back-and-forth affair that featured tough extended rallies, as expected from a Minnesota team that leads the Big Ten in digs per set (15.58). 

The Terps’ offense looked solid and improved from Friday’s match against Wisconsin. Samantha Schnitta picked up six kills and Sam Csire put up two kills on as many attempts.

But the Golden Gophers built a wall at the net that the Terps could not get through.

“We tried to take some big swings and they put up a great blocking effort tonight,” head coach Adam Hughes said. “We’ve got to find ways to chisel and tool a lot more than we did tonight.”

Minnesota erased six shots compared to Maryland’s two and the defense behind played nearly flawless.

The Terps committed eight attack errors but played clean considering that six of those errors were blocks by Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers’ well-balanced attack fueled the team to a 25-21 win, much more competitive than any set Maryland played against Wisconsin.

“I thought we did a better job starting on time, that was something that we wanted to do from Friday night to Saturday night,” Hughes said. “I thought against Wisconsin we kinda let the environment distract us for maybe the first 10 or 15 points, let some things get away.”

Despite Minnesota out-blocking Maryland and nearly doubling the Terps’ hitting percentage, the set still finished within five points.

The second set was much of the same for both teams. Wisconsin continued to rack up blocks, with seven compared to Maryland’s one in the set, and played efficiently, hitting .520 to the Terps’ .050.

Middle blocker Phoebe Awoleye was a force at the net, matching her career-high 11 blocks in only the second set. The senior was also hitting .800 with four kills through the second set.

Minnesota’s top two leaders in kills on the season, outside hitters Julia Hanson (189) and Lydia Grote (163), led the offense with five and eight kills, respectively.

Maryland could not get anything going from the service line either, with only one ace to two errors in the second set.

The Terps took a step back and struggled in all three levels, leading to a decisive 15-25 loss.

Maryland came out revitalized in the third set, playing easily its best set of the match. 

The Terps knotted the match at 14 and trailed by one late before Minnesota outscored them seven to one down the stretch.

“We got in system a little bit more … I thought it was a nice little pop there,” Hughes said. “It was a good job by the staff.”

The attack adjusted to counter the Golden Gophers’ block early in the set but tried to break through the wall late. Minnesota’s block remained stalwart, fueling the scoring run that sealed the match for them.

Three of the Golden Gophers’ final four points came from blocks, including an emphatic rejection by Grote and middle blocker Kali Engeman for match point, securing the third set 25-18 for Minnesota.

Awoyele finished with a career-high 13 blocks, while Minnesota had an unbelievable 34 block assists compared to Maryland’s four.

The Golden Gophers muddied up the game, not surrendering any easy points to Maryland, extending rallies, and wreaking havoc in the front row.

Combined with a clean .430 hitting percentage, Minnesota put on an excellent performance in a dominant win.

It won’t get any easier for the Terps. Next up is No. 16 USC, one of four ranked opponents in Maryland’s next five matches.