Preview: Maryland volleyball takes win streak on the road, facing Ohio State and No. 4 Penn State

Photo courtesy of Samantha Osborne/Maryland Terrapins

After trudging through a brutal month-long stretch of losses, the Terps (12-13, 3-11 Big Ten) hope to build on their first conference win streak of the season this weekend.

Maryland plays at Ohio State (11-13, 4-10 Big Ten) on Friday at 7 p.m. and gets another shot at No. 4 Penn State (23-2, 13-1 Big Ten) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Pavilion.

The Buckeyes are the Terps’ fourth consecutive unranked opponent, marking the team’s longest such streak in Big Ten play this season.

It’s no coincidence that Maryland won back-to-back conference games for the first time this year during this stretch. 

The Terps’ win over UCLA, coach Adam Hughes’ 100th career win, was their best by RPI ranking – the Bruins rank 78th – likely restoring Maryland’s confidence to its highest since conference play began. 

“We’ve been talking a lot about coming together and finishing strong because we did have a really tough stretch,” setter Zoe Huang said. “We were really emphasizing coming together … and knowing that these are all winnable games.”

Ohio State places slightly higher than UCLA in the RPI (65), but after a strong 3-1 win over the Bruins, Maryland knows it can beat a team of this caliber.

Like UCLA, Ohio State is a bottom-10 team in the conference with a sub-.500 record, yet has pushed some of the Big Ten’s best to the brink.

The Buckeyes fought with No. 20 USC, No. 3 Penn State and No. 15 Minnesota for five sets, and claimed a solid four-set victory against Michigan.

Early this season, Ohio State also picked up a sweep win over then-No. 20 Miami, who currently sits at 37 in the RPI.

While the Buckeyes’ offense is far from stellar, ranking in the lower half of the Big Ten in kills per set and hitting percentage, outside hitter Emily Londot has been outstanding.

The graduate student ranks fourth in the Big Ten in kills per set (4.42), trailing only the top outside hitters from No. 8 Purdue (Eva Hudson), No. 4 Penn State (Jess Mruzik) and No. 6 Wisconsin (Sarah Franklin).

“[Londot’s] a very special player. One of the things that we’ve discussed in the past is that if she goes off, we’ve gotta do a really good job of containing everybody else,” Hughes said. “If she’s not playing her best you might have a bigger window to capitalize.”

While Londot has been hitting less efficiently than the top three – .220 compared to the top three hitting over .265 – she’s also been chipping in almost one block per set (.95).

Freshman Emmi Sellman is the only other Buckeye averaging at least 3 kills per set (3.00), and she struggles with efficiency hitting only .153. If the Terps can slow down Londot, they have a chance to extend their win streak to three.

The Terps take on their first conference rematch of the season on Sunday against the Nittany Lions, a familiar opponent not only because of the previous matchup this year. Hughes graduated from Penn State and spent nine seasons with the volleyball program. 

In the Terps’ first game against the Nittany Lions on Oct. 3, they had perhaps their best performance of the season against a ranked opponent.

Maryland claimed their first and only set against a ranked opponent in the first game, and reached 20 points in the first three sets.

Since that match, the programs have largely trended in opposite directions.

Penn State has maintained its top-five position in the AVCA rankings, remaining one of the nation’s best teams and most potent offenses, while the Terps have only won three games since then and dwell at the bottom of the Big Ten.

The top Nittany Lions have also remained the same since then.

Mruzik is averaging nearly 4.5 kills per set on a .267 clip and middle blocker Taylor Trammell has defended her title as the conference’s most efficient attacker, hitting an absurd .468.

Despite this, Maryland showed competitive fire against Penn State once this year. The Terps will need that energy and more to notch their biggest win of the season.