Maryland volleyball sweeps Le Moyne in dominant performance

It was an offensive barrage in a match that felt over before it started.

Maryland volleyball (8-2) started off the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic with a bang on Friday, dominating Le Moyne (0-7) in a 3-0 sweep.

Le Moyne came into the day still trying to find its footing in Division I. The Dolphins had been struggling offensively all year and the contest was no different, as they hit -.080 with just 16 kills.

On the other hand, Maryland got off to a fast start and never looked back. Its lineup looked a bit different today with junior middle blocker Ellie Watson and junior setter Zoe Huang each seeing their first starting role of the season. As a team, the Terps hit well above average with a .443 hitting percentage and 38 kills.

“The group did a pretty good job just staying clean,” coach Adam Hughes said. “It was nice to get some new looks and different action … it was nice to get some people some burn. That’s one of our strengths, we do have a lot of depth and we were able to use it today.”

Redshirt junior Erin Morrissey worked her way back into the starting lineup today and was a major bright spot. Morrissey finished the day with a team-leading 9 kills and hit .217.

Senior Laila Ricks set the tone early in the first set, collecting back-to-back kills to give Maryland a 2-0 lead. Morrissey picked up another set of kills to make it a 4-1 game.

“After I got the second kill I was like ‘Okay, I can get in a groove now’,” Morrissey said. “I felt a lot more comfortable just swinging at balls so that definitely helped ease my nerves.”

Junior setter Erin Engel capped off a 5-0 Maryland run with three service aces. The Terps continued their barrage after a Le Moyne timeout, as three-straight kills from Morrissey, Sydney Bryant and Watson put the finishing touches on a 25-12 first set victory. Morrissey and Ricks led the team in kills in the first set with four each.

The second set started with a lot more back-and-forth scoring. The Dolphins collected five points, all on kills, and had the score knotted even at five. That’s where the positives stopped for Le Moyne.

Middle blocker Anastasia Russ tallied three kills during a 6-0 Maryland run to make the score 11-5, and the run continued after a Le Moyne timeout. The Terps began getting their points at the net after three-straight blocks involving Russ. With the lead at 24-9, Watson ended the match with a kill, assisted by Huang.

“I thought we did a really good job rebounding [from the early tie],” Hughes said. “It’s easy to slip sometimes when you know you have the match in control but I thought the group did a really good job staying with it.”

Le Moyne looked sloppy in the second set, committing a plethora of errors to fuel the Maryland scoring run. The Dolphins committed 11 attack errors and three service errors as a team.

The sloppy play spilled into the third set with Maryland quickly jumping out to a 10-4 lead after six Le Moyne attack errors. Freshman libero Alex McGillivray’s service ace in the third set put the Maryland scoring run at 10-0. McGillivray finished the set with three aces.

Ricks ended the game with a kill, her fifth of the day, as Maryland ran away with another set, winning it 25-10.

Maryland now has its longest winning streak of the season as it now sits at four games. The Terps will look to stretch it to five in less than 24 hours when they take on FAU at 1 p.m. on Saturday.