Maryland volleyball swept for third straight game after loss to USC

Photo courtesy of Dylan Davies/Maryland Athletics

Facing No. 16 USC (13-4, 5-2 Big Ten), Maryland (10-8, 1-6 Big Ten) showed little fire in the first two sets, being dominated at the net. Then in the third set, a different team seemed to take the court.

The Trojans wasted no time establishing their defensive presence, with back-to-back blocks of Samantha Schnitta giving USC a quick 7-1 lead and forcing a Maryland timeout.

Middle blocker Leah Ford, second in the Big Ten in blocks per set, locked the net down for USC, swatting three shots and anchoring a Trojans defense that held the Terps to a flat zero hitting percentage.

USC also played a clean set offensively, hitting .355 and nearly tripling the Terps’ kills (14 to 5). Ally Batenhorst, one of the conference’s standout outside hitters, and budding freshman Jadyn Livings gave the Trojans an efficient four and five kills, respectively.

Maryland rattled off four straight points late in the set to cut the lead to six, but couldn’t get any closer than that, falling 25-15.

The Terps’ attack looked much better to start the second half, making adjustments to hit around USC’s block.

Though the defensive struggles continued—the Trojans hit over .500 for the set and the Terps failed to pick up a block.

Maryland kept the game within five for nearly the whole set, yet always found themselves a step behind. 

Livings and Batenhorst continued to shine for USC, leading the offensive charge with 15 combined kills on over .300 hitting percentage.

The Terps forced a USC timeout with three straight points to narrow the lead to four, but the Trojans responded strongly with four consecutive points to close out the set 25-17. Livings blocked her third and fourth shots for the final two points.

Maryland came out with a different energy in the third set, finally getting past USC’s block and hitting .452 for the set, the first set hitting over .100. The Trojans had 17 combined blocks in the first two sets, but couldn’t muster any in set three.

With efficient hitting throughout the set keeping the match within a few points, the game was knotted at 22. Schnitta picked up a quick kill, and then Adonia Faumuina tied things at 23, leading to a timeout from coach Adam Hughes.

A glaring flaw in Maryland’s game in recent losses has been its disadvantage from the service line. 

The Terps have been solid at serving, but their reception has been among the worst in the Big Ten (90.6), leading to them falling behind from the end line.

Maryland had managed to hold the Trojans to zero aces in the third set, but surrendered two at an inopportune time. 

Livings delivered her first service ace to give USC match point, then fired another ace to secure the sweep for USC and down the Terps 25-23.

After the match, Hughes lamented that it took the Terps until the final set to truly compete with the Trojans.

“Wish we had started a little bit faster, well a lot faster,” Hughes said. “Thought we competed better in game three.”

Next up, the Terps travel to Urbana-Champaign on Sunday to take on Illinois, one of the strongest serving teams in the Big Ten.

“[Illinois] was probably one of the first teams towards that aggressive serving style,” Hughes said. “We’ve seen some of the top three or four teams now going to that strategy of just letting it fly.”

This season, Hughes has frequently mentioned this philosophy of serving adopted from the men’s game. Teams will accept more service errors if it means they can get more aces or do more “damage” as Hughes phrases it.

Against a team with the serving prowess of Illinois, Maryland will have to shore up its issues on serve receive if it wants to keep up.