Maryland volleyball sweeps doubleheader against Mercer and East Carolina

Looking for four more points to point the game away in a sweep, a service ace from graduate student Gem Grimshaw helped the Terps. 

Later, a kill and a service ace brought the Terps up 24-12, looking for one more point to call the match. Two points later, a kill from graduate student Rainelle Jones, gave Maryland the set, 25-13, and the doubleheader sweep.

Maryland volleyball took on Mercer in the first match of its Friday doubleheader in the Cavalier Classic. The Terps easily cruised past the Bears, defeating Mercer, 3-1.

The first set included a tight match that found both teams in a 19-19 tie nearing the end of the set, but a 6-3 run helped the Terps take set one, 25-22. 

The Terps followed suit in the second set, keeping the lead, with multiple runs to help. The Terps won the second set by eight points, 25-17. 

Mercer took the lead early in the third set, but the Terps stayed within striking distance. The Terps found themselves up 20-14 over the Bears, but multiple attack errors from Maryland, in addition to two kills and two service aces, put the Bears back in the set at 20-19. 

The game stayed in the Bears court after that, but a Maryland kill made it a one point set, 23-22. Following Maryland’s kill, two more kills this time on the other side of the court by Mercer gave the Bear the set win, 25-22, forcing a fourth.

Quickly recovering from the set loss, Maryland went on to have a dominating fourth set filled with kills. The Terps won the fourth set 25-18, and took the match 3-1. Freshman Laila Ivey recorded seven of her 11 kills in the fourth set.

Jones played a monumental game today, moving to second place in career blocks in program history. 

The Terps played their second game of The Cavalier Classic against East Carolina.

The first set started with Maryland putting up points first, but the pirates quickly responded by tying the score at three apiece. Putting up three unanswered points after that, the Terps found themselves back in the lead, 6-3.

The set with back-and-forth points. Later in the set, two kills from junior Anastasia Russ, followed by one from junior Sam Csire, and another by Russ gave Maryland the lead, 12-8.

The Terps extended their run to 6-1, putting them up six points, 15-9. Two Pirate kills cut Maryland’s lead down to four, 16-12. The Terps, eyeing the set win, went ahead 21-15, but the Pirates went on 3-0 run to stay in the set, 22-18.

Two kills from the Terps gave Maryland set point and then match point, winning the set 25-21.

The Terps had a strong hitting set, recording a .333 hitting percentage, and 18 of their 25 points were from kills. 

The Pirates took the lead early in the second set 3-0, but halted quickly following a kill from Russ.

Going on a 3-0 run, the Pirates found themselves up 7-2, ultimately forcing a Maryland timeout.  Answering the run with one of its own, Maryland found themselves within two points of the Pirates, 8-6.

Cutting Maryland’s run, the Pirates extended their lead to 11-7, but Maryland cut the Pirates lead down to just one, 11-10. Maryland’s comeback forced the Pirates to take a timeout.

After the timeout, the Pirates went back up three following a block assist and two kills. Later, tied 15-all, a kill from Csire put Maryland up one, giving the Terps their first lead of the set. East Carolina was forced to call another timeout. 

Continuing their success, the Terps went on a 3-0 scoring run, extending their lead to three, 18-15. 

Despite the lead, two ball handling errors helped put the Bears within one point of tying the games, but a service error by the Pirates gave the Terps set point. A service ace from sophomore Milan Gomillion won Maryland the set, 25-22. 

Mirroring the second set, the Pirates scored first, but two kills and a block by Maryland tied the set, 3-3. On a run, the Terps found themselves with the lead against the Pirates, 6-3, forcing an East Carolina timeout. 

After the timeout, the Terps extended their run to 8-0, creating a seven point lead against the Pirates, 10-3. 

Keeping the momentum alive, and performance strong, the Terps found themselves up 20-9 against the Pirates. Though the Pirates were searching for answers to make the comeback, a kill by Jones sealed the match for Maryland.

Maryland won the game with a sweep, which gave them their second victory of the day in the Cavalier Classic. 

 “I don’t think much will change besides we’ll be taking more risks as hitters, we’ll be getting balls that maybe we don’t normally hit and we want to try to get points back”, coach Adam Hughes said entering the tournament.

Living up to his hopes, the Terps ended the game with 50 kills and a .362 hitting percentage.

The Terps will return to play Virginia tomorrow at 3 p.m.