Samantha Schnitta, Laila Ivey power Maryand volleyball to 3-1 win over Rutgers

Maryland volleyball (12-3, 2-1 Big Ten) picked up its second straight win, beating Rutgers (8-5, 0-3 Big Ten) 3-1 in its first road Big Ten match of the season.

Samantha Schnitta put together another high-kill match coming off a successful weekend. The Ole Miss transfer recorded 16 kills including three on a .500 hitting percentage in the first set.

“[Schnitta’s] the type of person who’s not afraid of the scenario,” coach Adam Hughes said. “Sometimes people want to try and find an easier path to get through it and she’s okay with taking the hard challenge and has belief that she can go get it … I thought she took some really good swings to get us moving in the right direction.”

Outside hitter Laila Ivey also put together a high-kill performance. Coming off her 18 total kills last weekend, Ivey finished the match with 11 kills and a .348 hitting percentage. She played an extremely clean match, not committing an attack error until the third set.

Sydney Dowler set the tone early, picking up a two-handed push kill that found a gap in the Scarlet Knights’ defense. Dowler delivered a service ace in the middle of a 5-0 Maryland run that also included kills from Anastasia Russ and Schnitta. The Terps continued their push after a Rutgers timeout, as back-to-back Laila Ivery kills grew Maryland’s lead to 14-8.

The Scarlet Knights then put together a run of their own, led by outside hitter Bekah Williams. The sophomore keyed a three-point run with a kill and service ace. But the Terps stayed calm and maintained their lead. Late kills from Ivey and Eva Rohrbach secured the first-set win.

Schnitta was once again able to catapult Maryland to an early lead in set two after recording three kills. From there, Rutgers put themselves into a hole due to sloppy play and errors. The Scarlet Knights committed 14 attack errors and were hitting just .042 as they fell into a 14-6 deficit.

The Terps surged on a 9-1 scoring run, ignited by powerful Schnitta kills and diving digs from multiple players. A kill from outside hitter Sam Csire put Maryland up 20-9, and Ivey and Csire capped off the offensive barrage in the second set by delivering the set-ending kills. 

The Terps’ 25-14 second set win put them up 2-0 headed into the third. They hit over .450 in the second set as a team, committing just three attack errors.

Maryland’s clean play in the second did not carry over into the third. Rutgers jumped out to an early 9-5 lead with multiple Terp attacks going out of bounds. After committing three attack errors and a service error up to this point, Maryland was forced to call timeout.

Maryland called another timeout after a 3-0 Rutgers run put the lead at 16-8. Senior middle blocker Tina Grkovic was a driving force behind the third-set surge. She accounted for three late kills and a block to help the Scarlet Knights to a 25-15 set win.

“After our second set I think we felt a little more comfortable,” Schnitta said. “We got caught on our heels a little bit … After that third set, we talked in the huddle about ‘control what we can control.’ They played good volleyball that set but we have to be able to play our game and know that our game is going to work.”

Neither team pulled away early on in the fourth. Maryland built a slim three-point lead with kills from Schnitta and Dowler. A Schnitta service ace capped off a 4-0 run that gave the Terps a 15-9 lead.

They continued to ride this lead. Rutgers had a few late surges from kills and service errors. However, the Terps finished the set 25-18 with a Csire kill that landed right between two defenders, closing out the 3-1 victory.

Maryland will face a ranked opponent for the second time this season on Sunday when it travels to No. 22 Ohio State.